Code Blue
by Goody
Summary: Nate felt sick as he was taunted by the man on the other end of the phone, "I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go."
1. Scatter!

**Title:** Code Blue  
**Author:** Robinyj  
**Beta:** sgs09  
**Characters/Pairings:** Teamfic centered mostly around Eliot  
**Rating:** PG-13, violence and a little swearing  
**Genre:** canon/action/adventure/h/c  
**Warnings/spoilers:** None really. Mild violence.  
**Summary:** Nate felt sick as he was taunted by the man on the other end of the phone, "I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go."  
**Author's Notes**: This story would not have been possible without my AMAZING beta, sgs09! Her notes, encouragement, hard work and feedback made this story SO much better than I thought it could be and I am extremely grateful to her for all her awesome help!!!

* * *

Prologue

Breathing was getting more difficult as the deep cold started to set in, penetrating down to his core and biting sharply with each subsequent gust of wind that whipped across his chilled skin. Water dripped from his hair, mixing with his blood but Eliot paid it no mind as he staggered down the sidewalk. His vision was hazy, disoriented from the cold and the only thing keeping him moving in the right direction was the ingrained familiarity of the streets.

It was the middle of the day but he ignored the stares he received from drivers and passersby – he couldn't afford any unnecessary attention so he didn't ask for help and no one offered it to him. It felt like forever and no time at all before he spotted the building he was looking for with the familiar sign above the bar on the ground floor. Even his disoriented mind knew that door was too public to use and he'd have to make the long trek around the neighbouring building to use the backdoor that eventually lead to the elevator banks. His body begged him to just go inside to escape the terrible cold that was freezing him to the bone, but his mind shouted that he had to be careful - everything depended on it. With a grunt of determination Eliot pushed off the brick wall he had been leaning against and started the painful walk around the back of the next building.

There was nothing even resembling stealth in his movements as he finally reached the back door of the apartment complex and collapsed against it. It was a metal door that he didn't remember being quite so heavy as he pulled it open with a shuddering, pain-filled grunt. When he was inside he fell against the nearest wall, gasping in the warm air and wrapping his arms around his torso to try to will the heat into his body. Eliot only stayed a moment though, his mind never straying far from its goal. The elevator was open and waiting for him – he staggered inside and pressed 2. When the doors opened on the second floor he almost didn't make it out before they started to shut again. After colliding with his slumped body they opened once more and he made it out into the hallway, so close to his goal that he somehow managed to pick up speed for the final stretch of his journey. It seemed unreal when he finally reached 2A and he almost wasn't sure why he was even there.

He didn't so much knock on the door as collapse on it and when it opened seconds later Eliot found himself falling forward into the apartment. Nate just barely managed to catch him, grunting with surprise and from the effort of holding up the shivering hitter.

"Wha … Eliot?" Nate asked in shock before he could really look the thief over. The first thing he noticed was his left hand getting sticky. "God, you're bleeding. Okay come on. Dammit, you're freezing."

Hefting the hitter up closer Nate peered down the hallway in search of pursuers and closed the door quickly when he saw none.

"Eliot, can you hear me? What happened? How bad is it?" Nate demanded of the semi-conscious man as he helped him stagger towards the couch. He couldn't be sure but he thought the blood was stemming from Eliot's arm, which at least wasn't a vital area.

"Team," Eliot whispered through chattering teeth.

Nate shook his head, not following, "They're not here, but I've got you. I have to know what happened."

"No, call the team," Eliot explained tightly with more clarity in his eyes as Nate dropped him on the couch. "C…code blue."

Nate's eyes widened and his hands stilled on their way towards picking up the nearest blanket.

"Blue? You're sure?" he asked, his own voice suddenly tight with fear.

Eliot's only response was to shoot Nate an angry glare from underneath almost frozen eyelids.

"Yeah, of course you're sure, sorry. Okay, here, take this," Nate finally grabbed the blanket and laid it over the hitter. "Don't move. I'll call them."

Eliot gripped the blanket weakly but nodded in agreement. Nate scrambled to pick up his cell phone off the table and scrolled through the applications until he found the program Hardison had installed that would call each member of the team simultaneously. He hit dial, knowing Eliot's phone wouldn't connect but praying he got a hold of the others. As it rang he pulled open a drawer and grabbed a dish towel.

"Hardison," the hacker answered first.

"Hardison, stay on the line but drop whatever you're doing. I'm conference calling the team," Nate explained as he rushed back into the living room and pulled the blanket away from Eliot's right arm to expose the still bleeding bullet wound underneath.

"We got a new client or something?" Hardison asked, but he could tell it was something bigger than that from the urgency in Nate's voice.

"Not quite," Nate replied, cradling the phone against his shoulder as he tied the towel tightly around the wound to slow the bleeding. Still only half-conscious, Eliot pulled away in pain and Nate cringed in sympathy. "Sorry Eliot."

"What happened? What's going on?" Hardison demanded to know, hearing the grunts of pain in the background. Before Nate could respond to him the other two lines were answered.

"Parker."

"Hello," Sophie answered pleasantly, not using her name.

"Drop what you're doing, all of you. Scatter and get somewhere safe. We've got a Code Blue," Nate warned them, getting straight to the point.

"Oh god. How do you know?" Sophie asked, her voice dropping into a whisper.

Nate looked down at Eliot, who was shaking and barely keeping his eyes open. "Eliot ran into them first."

"Is he okay?" Parker piped in quickly.

"Yeah, I've got him. He'll be fine," Nate told them with more confidence than he felt on the matter. "Just scatter and get yourselves somewhere safe."

Hardison cleared his throat and spoke awkwardly, "Um … I may not exactly remember which code …"

"Bounty-hunters, Hardison," Nate told him firmly. "Code blue is bounty-hunters."

TBC

Dun, dun, dun!!!


	2. Protect the Team

**Title:** Code Blue  
**Author:** Robinyj  
**Beta:** sgs09  
**Characters/Pairings:** Teamfic centered mostly around Eliot  
**Rating:** PG-13, violence and a little swearing  
**Genre:** canon/action/adventure/h/c  
**Warnings/spoilers:** None really. Mild violence.  
**Summary:** Nate felt sick as he was taunted by the man on the other end of the phone, "I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go."  
**Author's Notes**: This story would not have been possible without my AMAZING beta, sgs09! Her notes, encouragement, hard work and feedback made this story SO much better than I thought it could be and I am extremely grateful to her for all her awesome help!!!

* * *

Eliot had learned a long time ago that the worst days could start off fairly normal, so when the team got the day off in between cons and he had decided to take a trip to the Boston Farmer's Market, he really should have been more prepared for something to go wrong. He grew a lot of his own foods but he didn't have any meats or milk products that he made himself, which was why he could frequently be found at the Farmer's Market buying products from people that did.

Ellen McGraw smiled when he came over to her booth, prepared with several bags for his purchases.

"If it isn't my best customer. You keep buying me out of steaks and I'm going to be able to retire soon," she said warmly in greeting.

Eliot smiled back at the fifty-something farmer, "Well then, you're going to love me. I need ten rib-eyes if you got 'em."

"Ten? What do you do with it all? You're a strong young man but you can't eat it all yourself," she pointed out as she went through her best products for him.

"No, it ain't all for me. Got a lot of mouths to feed," he told her.

"Hey, now you told me you didn't have kids," she accused him lightly.

He shrugged and assured her, "Oh, they're adults, they just act like children."

She laughed, "Good, you're too serious anyway. I was wondering if you had anyone around to make you smile."

"There's smiling and then there's resisting the urge of strangulation. I tell you what does make me smile, those porkchops sitting in your display," he told her with his charming smile.

"I'll wrap them up," she promised and set to work. Eliot ended up leaving with enough meat to feed the team for almost a week should they be around for supper as they usually were when Eliot agreed to cook for them.

It was a fairly nice day for late fall so he decided to walk home with his groceries, passing Boston Harbour to enjoy the quiet, not bothered by the wind as his jacket was thick enough to protect him. He was just passing over a walking bridge near the road when he sensed it. If Hardison had been there he probably would have said something geeky, like Eliot was using the Force or his Spidey-Sense was tingling, but all Eliot knew was that he was being watched, and not by women in the way he usually preferred. Other than tensing slightly he made no outward indications that he was aware someone was watching him. Keeping his stride the same he kept looking straight ahead, using the windows of passing cars and the reflection of the water to try to spot anyone behind him.

Eliot eventually spotted his admirer sitting on a park bench a little ways ahead of him, seemingly reading a newspaper. Only no one would casually read a newspaper outside in this wind - even now the pages were trying to fly out of the man's grasp. Eliot continued walking, cataloguing the man and trying to identify him from the way he carried himself. His appearance was too hard to be a regular cop, too relaxed to be a rookie. His demeanour was casual enough that he obviously wasn't scared, instead he might have been eager, excited even. Eliot's eyes narrowed, not a cop. That left hitman or bounty-hunter.

Turning a corner up ahead he silently dropped his bag behind a tree and waited. It wasn't a long wait as the man with the newspaper appeared a few seconds later, scanning the trail to try and see where Eliot went. The first thing he ended up seeing was a fist coming towards his face.

"You got five seconds to tell me who you're working for," Eliot said in greeting, wanting information more than he wanted the man unconscious.

The stranger stumbled back and wiped at his bloody lip, then regained his balance and rushed at Eliot without a word. The hitter blocked a punch and used his knee to keep a kick from connecting with his ribs before he straight punched his opponent in the face. The man stumbled back again and remained resolutely silent. Eliot could tell he was going to attack again and sighed in annoyance.

"All right, time's up," he muttered, boxing the man's ears and then spinning him into a chokehold. "You feel like talking yet? If I were to let go of your windpipe that is."

The man's arms flailed behind him, trying desperately to get some purchase on Eliot but the hitter had a tight grip and the man was going down slowly. That's when Eliot realized that the man had gone down too quickly. Anyone who was actually trying to kill Eliot would have done a much better job as all the people who wanted him dead would be able to afford a decent assassin. No, this man wasn't a solo worker or a hitman, which meant he was probably a bounty-hunter.

Eliot's fears were confirmed almost instantly when a van pulled off the road to his left and onto the grass walkway heading straight towards him and what he supposed was now his hostage. The vehicle came to a halt about twenty feet away from him and he backed away as men with guns piled out of the doors. To his right another black van was pulling off the road and Eliot was starting to think he was truly and royally screwed. The men circled him quickly, weapons drawn and all keeping well out of arm's length away from the hitter– apparently they had been well briefed on Eliot's martial arts expertise. He quickly found out from where when the last man emerged slowly from the van, a confident, satisfied smile on his face. Eliot glared as they locked eyes and he recognized him immediately: James Ackers, international bounty-hunter. He had been after Eliot for a long time but had always been one step behind him, country after country, year after year. Until now.

Ackers was still smiling as he shouted to Eliot who now had an unconscious man in his arms, "Eliot Spencer, I've been waiting for this a long time. Put him down. You're caught, it's over."

"You're a persistent son of a bitch Ackers, I'll give you that," Eliot replied loudly, tightening his grip on their soldier, knowing it was probably the only reason he hadn't been shot yet.

"Well, persistence pays off it seems. Or at least it will once I go pick up all your little friends after we're done here," Ackers called back smugly, enjoying the dark look that passed over the hitter's eyes at his remark. "You give yourself up willingly and I promise I'll be gentle when I bring them in."

"As gentle as a brick to the head," Eliot muttered to himself as his rage fought against his reason to work out the best way out of this situation. He automatically started backing up even though the only thing behind him was a twelve foot drop into the Boston harbour. "I'm gonna have to decline."

"Wasn't a request Spencer. You got nowhere to go," Ackers pointed out.

It was Eliot's turn to grin. "Always got somewhere to go. Preferably somewhere a chicken-shit like you is afraid to follow."

As Eliot continued to back up slowly, the smile disappeared from Ackers' face and his expression grew hard. "Don't be an idiot, it's 40 degrees out here."

"And that's not even counting windchill," Eliot answered with a wild glint in his eye. "You want me, come get me."

Then he took off. Dropping his hostage to the ground he raced through the last few trees behind him and headed straight for the water.

"Stop him!" Ackers ordered his men and bullets immediately started to fly. Eliot ran in a crouch, keeping himself small while Ackers fumed and stormed through his line of men, "Stop firing you idiots! The price drops if he's dead. Go catch him!"

But it was too late, Eliot was already grabbing a hold of the railing around the walkway and pulling himself over. The last bullet rang out just as he was climbing over the top. His upper arm suddenly exploded with pain and he ended up being pushed by the impact the rest of the way off the harbour front. The drop was only 12 feet meaning he barely got a breath in before he hit the water and dove deep to get out of sight and out of the way of any more bullets. His lungs hated him immediately, the water was freezing and his arm throbbed with agony as salt water rushed into the fresh bullet wound, but he still pushed himself down deeper, letting the current take him away from the docks.

Back on the walkway Ackers' men had their guns drawn as they waited for Eliot to surface. Ackers noted a spot of blood on the railing and wondered how badly the thief had been hit. Even if Eliot was injured though Ackers knew better than expect to see the hitter again that day so he stormed away from the dock, ordering his men with him.

"Come on, all of you. He's not dead but he's out for the count, which means none of his thief friends have anyone to protect them," he announced, the idea of getting to Spencer through his new teammates being the only consolation he had for this disappointing turn of events.

Eliot had to come up for air sooner than he would have liked and with no idea where in the water he was going to surface. But when he broke through there were no bullets raining down or shouting coming from anywhere telling him to stop, so he figured he must have gotten far enough away. Speaking of which, the shore was suddenly incredibly far and his limbs were almost numb but he swam anyway, without hesitation, making huge painful strokes towards the shore as Ackers' words echoed through his head: 'after I pick up your little friends'.

Ackers was going to go after the team, and that thought alone kept Eliot moving, kept him going forward through the cold, pain and exhaustion. When he finally reached land and pulled himself up on the rocks he wasted no time resting. He stood up and started walking, determined to accomplish the one goal he considered himself to have in this life: protect the team.

* * *

Now Eliot was shaking with cold and only barely conscious but his job was done; he had warned the team and he felt the determined grasp he had held on consciousness slowly slip as Nate took charge of the situation.

"You all know what to do. Be careful and put your earpieces in if you have them so we can all stay in contact," Nate instructed as he ran to his linen closet to grab another blanket.

"All right," Sophie agreed. "But what about Eliot? Is he all right, do you need any help?"

"He'll be fine, it's nothing too serious, I'll take care of him," he promised the others. "Just worry about yourselves. I'm hanging up now, switch to earpieces as soon as you can."

"And if anything happens try to keep your comms, they have tracking chips in them now," Hardison informed them.

"That's a little creepy," Parker commented. "When do you track us?"

"Not now Parker," Nate told her, feeling she was taking this all a bit too lightly.

"Fine, I'll put my comm in," she promised and then dropped out of the call. Nate did the same, not waiting for the others as he pushed in his own earpiece, knowing they would come back in a second. Right now he was more worried about the hypothermic hitter on his couch. He knelt in front of Eliot and put a hand on his cheek, cringing at the icy feel of his skin.

"Eliot, can you hear me? We've gotta get you out of these clothes," he explained loudly to cut through the fog in the hitter's brain as he started to pull his soaked coat off his shoulders.

Eliot's eyes were just slits but he still shook his head, "You … you're not my type."

Nate was too worried to laugh but hated that he had to agree with what Eliot was trying to say – they didn't have time to stick around here. Eliot had clearly only barely escaped from whatever had happened and the men who had done this to him might not be far behind. "Fine, you can keep the pants but you're getting out of these shirts."

Eliot had on about three layers of clothing so Nate saved time by grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting the frozen fabric away from his body instead of trying to pull it over his head. Once it was off he wrapped the blanket around him again, then tapped his cheek lightly. "Eliot, stay awake, all right? I've gotta go grab some stuff then we'll get out of here."

It seemed to take all his concentration but Eliot nodded in understanding and managed to keep his eyes open until Nate left. Rushing up the staircase Nate grabbed the emergency bag he had packed for just such an occasion. It was only meant for a single person though so he took a moment to grab a few more articles of clothing and then raced back downstairs. That's when his earpiece started erupting with voices.

"Okay, I'm back on. I'm downtown, I'll try to stay lost in the crowd," Sophie promised.

The next voice that clicked on sounded almost excited, "Hellooooooo?"

Nate rolled his eyes, "I can hear you Parker. How are you doing?"

"Fine. I'm almost at the roof of my place. I've got a rig set up that'll drop me right in the parking lot so I can grab a car and then get out of here," she explained her plan to him. "No one will see me."

"All right, be careful," Nate instructed as he got back downstairs. He placed the bag on the floor and pulled out the large hooded sweater he had grabbed. "Eliot, here, lean forward, I've gotta get this on you."

Eliot was cold to the touch but let Nate guide him into position and then push the sweater down over his head, foregoing being gentle in exchange for speed. A muffled grunt was the only indication given by Eliot that the jostling of his arm was painful.

Even though he was only half-conscious Eliot glanced down at what he was wearing and frowned, "IYS? S…seriously?"

Nate also looked over the symbol of his old company with disdain but shrugged, "They're corporate assholes but they make damn warm sweaters, okay?"

Then his earpiece came alive once more.

"Uh Nate, any chance we can get a little info on who might be after us?" Hardison requested, sounding slightly nervous. From the background noise Nate thought he was probably outside somewhere. "I'm not a big fan of flying blind, especially when I'm by myself."

"All right, one second," Nate told him then knelt in front of Eliot again who was now as warm as he could get him for the moment. "Eliot, do you know who came after you? What do they look like?"

Eliot had to huff in a few heavy breaths to prepare his answer then finally chattered out a response, "A…ackers. Six guys. Black van."

Nate's eyes widened. He knew that name and relayed as much to the rest of the team, "Okay, the man after us is James Ackers, he's a bounty-hunter who specializes in bringing in thieves. He's armed and dangerous and he's not alone. Eliot says to watch out for a black van."

"Oh shit," Hardison whispered fearfully. "Black van alert."

"Run Hardison!" Nate encouraged him quickly followed by Sophie.

"Get out there!"

Parker of course had an entirely different take on how to be helpful, "If they catch you go for their eyes!"

Over the com line Nate could hear the sound of sneakers hitting the pavement and a loud crash which he assumed was Hardison dropping his laptop so he could run.

"Oh shit," Hardison mumbled again, his breathing already heavy from fear and exertion.

"There, around the corner," a voice could be heard shouting in the background behind the hacker.

"Hardison, come on!" Nate urged him, slinging his bag over his shoulder and leaning down to grab Eliot's arm.

"Wh...what's going on?" Eliot demanded to know, his earpiece having disappeared somewhere in the Boston Harbour.

"They're after Hardison," Nate explained simply as he hauled the hitter to his feet and swung the bigger man's arm over his shoulder to help him walk. He hated that there was nothing he could do to help the rest of the team right now so he focussed his energy on the one thing he could do, which was get Eliot somewhere safe.

"Uh oh," Parker gasped suddenly.

Nate was busy trying to open the door to his apartment and not drop Eliot, but Sophie asked for him: "Parker, what is it?"

"The rope on my harness rig's been cut," she answered ominously. "Someone's been up here."

Before Nate could reply the com frequency was flooded with shouting.

"No, no, no, wait … Ah!" Hardison pleaded and then cried out as the familiar sound of electricity discharging was heard over the line.

"Hardison!" Sophie gasped in concern. Meanwhile from Parker's position new voices could be heard shouting in the background.

"Freeze! If you run we will fire!"

"Stop!"

Nate knew just how tall Parker's apartment building was and quickly pleaded with her, "Parker, do not jump off that building without a harness!"

He could tell her breathing was shaky as she hissed at him, "I don't get caught."

"You do now," he told her remorsefully. "We'll find you, I promise, and I don't want you full of bullet holes when we do. Please."

"All right," Parker answered too loud to be talking to just her teammates, she must have been addressing the armed bounty-hunters who were after her. "I give up."

"Good Parker," Nate told her. "Just do what they say. It'll be all right, we'll get you."

By now Nate had managed to drag Eliot to the elevator banks and huffed in frustration as he hit P for the underground parking garage. The ride down was mentally excruciating; Eliot trembled against him, his breath rasping in and out, Sophie had been shocked into concerned silence, and the only sounds coming over Hardison and Parker's coms were the voices of strange men.

"All right, let's get him out of here," said a voice from Hardison's com line. "And get that thing Ackers told us about."

"Search her for lockpicks, this one's tricky," they heard another man say from Parker's end of the line. "Oh, and you won't be needing this."

The painful buzz and static that followed the comment was exactly what Nate hadn't wanted to hear as it could only mean one thing – they had destroyed Parker's earpiece. Another buzz a few moments later told him that Hardison's was gone as well, which meant they had no tracking devices to find either of them.

"Dammit!" Nate exclaimed angrily, his fist colliding with the elevator wall which caused him to nearly drop Eliot to the ground.

"Wh…what? Nate?" Eliot demanded to know.

Nate sighed and adjusted his grip on the hitter, "They got Parker and Hardison."

"Go … help them," Eliot huffed even as he struggled to get his feet under him.

"I gotta get you somewhere safe first then we'll worry about the others," Nate said, working very hard to think clearly and not go running off into action like he wanted to. "Sophie, please tell me you're okay."

"I'm in public. Even if they're watching me I doubt they'd try anything but I can't stay out here forever," she told him. "Do you think Parker and Hardison …?"

"They'll be fine," Nate told her quietly, checking corners in the parking lot quickly as he dragged Eliot to his car. "It sounded like Hardison just got tasered, he should be okay, and Parker knows we're coming for her so hopefully she won't do anything crazy, for awhile at least."

"What about you and Eliot?"

Eliot's eyes were barely open as Nate laid him out in the backseat of his car then did a quick sweep of the area, "I think we're clear, crazy as it sounds. They might not have been watching me. There's no money on my head. I'm gonna get Eliot to a safehouse and then I'll come get you all right?"

"All right, I'll just stay …"

"Hello Ms. Devereaux."

Nate paused halfway into the driver's seat when he heard the masculine voice suddenly appear over the com line.

Sophie sucked in a quick breath of surprise before she composed herself, "Mr. Ackers I presume."

"Hmm, I see my reputation precedes me."

"No, just the thugs you sent after my friends."

"Well, you'll be joining them soon enough. Now, I've got a gun in my jacket and three men dispersed throughout this crowd, so if you don't want yourself or anyone else on this street to get hurt I suggest you come quietly."

"No," Nate whispered, unsure if he was speaking to Sophie or himself. "No, no, no."

"Don't shoot anyone," Sophie requested quietly. Nate could read the hint of fear in her voice which disturbed him greatly; Ackers would have to be giving off serious impressions of violence to scare Sophie enough for Nate to be able to hear it.

"Of course, if you'll just come this way then," Ackers said pleasantly. "Oh, but I will be needing your earpiece, now. That is if there's even anyone left on your team for you to talk to."

"Take it," Sophie said and Nate could hear the buzz of it being jostled around. "They're all gone anyway."

"We'll see," Ackers replied smugly then must have taken the earpiece from her. "Spencer? Come on Spencer, I know you're there."

Nate bit his tongue to keep quiet and not let Ackers know that Eliot was out of commission or that Nate was helping him. Ackers continued anyway though, seemingly confident that Eliot was listening.

"It doesn't matter if you say anything. I've got your team. You're more than welcome to try and get them back, maybe with a plan that doesn't involve jumping into the harbour, huh? Come and get them Spencer, I'll be waiting."

And with that taunt the com line buzzed painfully, turned to static and went completely silent.

TBC

Well, this doesn't sound good! Hehehe. Hope you're enjoying! Thanks for the awesome responses so far guys! Your eagerness for more is quite contagious and I devoured every word.


	3. Make an Offer

**Title:** Code Blue  
**Author:** Robinyj  
**Beta:** sgs09  
**Characters/Pairings:** Teamfic centered mostly around Eliot  
**Rating:** PG-13, violence and a little swearing  
**Genre:** canon/action/adventure/h/c  
**Warnings/spoilers:** None really. Mild violence.  
**Summary:** Nate felt sick as he was taunted by the man on the other end of the phone, "I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go."  
**Author's Notes**: Thanks so much for the amazing responses guys. So glad you're all enjoying. – I apologize if anyone got alerted twice about this chapter. I've been having log in and upload problems with the site. Hopefully it's all fixed up now.

* * *

Nate wasn't sure how long he sat in the driver's seat of his car, staring off into space waiting to hear anything over the unnaturally quiet com line. Just a few minutes ago he had been talking to the team; he had known they were safe and on the move. Now though, he couldn't be sure where they were or what was happening to any of them. He gulped loudly. This wasn't like when Sterling caught Parker and Hardison to use as bargaining chips for the Second David, this was much worse. This time they were dealing with men who were little more than mercenaries willing to sell a person to the highest bidder, no questions asked, and they had his team.

Eliot coughing weakly in the backseat broke him out of his reverie and made him change that last thought - they had most of his team.

"Okay Eliot," he said aloud, shaking himself into action and starting the car. "We're getting out of here."

The hitter was completely unconscious by now, blood loss, cold and exhaustion having taken their toll, and he was still shivering violently. Nate calculated the distance to their nearest safehouse, then remembered that hideout was little more than a damp basement which would be very bad for Eliot at the moment so decided to head for the second closest which was drier and easier to heat.

His focus was so divided as he drove that it was a miracle he managed to stay on the road at all. He was desperately checking his mirrors and the roads ahead of him for any sign of a black van while at the same time he kept a close ear on Eliot's breathing, hating how laboured it sounded. Finally he had to keep his mind from straying too far into the future as he started to sort through all the cons in his arsenal and every trick he had ever learned over the years that could possibly help him get his team back. Everything that he came up with though involved more than a mastermind and a hitter, which caused Nate's frustration levels to increase dramatically as he drove. By the time he reached the safehouse he felt completely exhausted.

Pulling into the driveway slowly Nate looked over the area to try to spot any signs of recent activity. The gravel on the driveway was undisturbed and the house itself seemed as he remembered it. The safehouse was an old Victorian home that had once been a family doctor's office with an apartment on the upper floor. The team had placed plastic on the downstairs windows to make it look like the place was under renovations but left the upstairs apartment furnished and stocked in case of emergencies. Stepping out of the car Nate pulled open the garage door, drove inside and then shut it again. Eliot was still unconscious but Nate talked to him anyway.

"Eliot, I'll be right back okay. Just sit tight," he instructed, grabbing his emergency bag of clothes, food and money and heading into the house first. The back steps looked undisturbed as well and Nate started to relax marginally when he opened the door and found the alarm active and untampered with. No one had been here. He took a moment to deactivate the alarm and wedge a few doors open then went back for Eliot. Climbing into the back of the car he tapped the hitter's cheek lightly.

"Eliot, wake up. Come on. We're at the safe house but I don't think I can carry you. You're gonna have to help me. Eliot?"

Nate's stomach clenched with concern when Eliot remained unresponsive for a long time. It was only after a good deal of shaking and yelling that the hitter's eyes finally started to crack open.

"Hey, there we go, Eliot! Eliot! You hear me? Stay awake, okay? We gotta get inside," Nate said, quickly grabbing Eliot's good arm now that he was conscious and hoping the hitter would help him whether he understood or not.

"Where…?" Eliot asked in confusion, squinting to figure out where he was.

"The safehouse down on Agricola. Come on, keep moving," Nate instructed, focussed solely on holding Eliot up and keeping the hitter moving forward.

They were both panting by the time they reached the top of the stairs but Nate wouldn't let them slow down until they were inside. Steering Eliot towards the nearest bedroom where Nate had had the foresight to turn down the sheets, Nate dropped Eliot onto the bed. The hitter's eyes closed again almost immediately and Nate set to work, cranking up the heat in the room as high as it would go and then removing the rest of the hitter's soaked clothing. He also wrapped a towel around Eliot's head to dry his hair. When Eliot was as warm as Nate could make him, covered with practically every blanket in the house, Nate collapsed into a nearby chair, sweating from the exertion and the increased temperature in the room. His rest was short lived though; he hadn't forgotten about the bullet wound in Eliot's arm. With great effort he pushed himself out of the chair and retrieved a first aid kit from the bathroom and then settled in next to Eliot on the bed.

Unwrapping the makeshift bandage he had placed on the arm back at his apartment Nate saw that the wound was a through and through – it had taken a good chunk out of Eliot's upper arm but there was no bullet to remove and it hadn't hit the bone, which were both good things. It really just had to be cleaned and stitched. Nate wiped away the blood so he could see the wound more clearly then picked up the bottle of disinfectant. He was just about to pour the alcohol onto Eliot's arm when he paused and then stood up to apply the disinfectant from out of arm's reach.

It was the smart move on his part as the pain of the wound being treated jerked Eliot into consciousness and his first instinct was to swing wildly in the direction the pain had come from. Nate was out of harm's way but quickly moved into Eliot's line of sight.

"Eliot, easy, it's me, it's Nate. You've been shot, I'm trying to help," Nate explained loudly. "It's just me."

Eliot was huffing in breaths and still shaking violently, but nodded in exhaustion, "'kay."

Nate took that as the permission it was and sat back down to continue sterilizing the wound. Eliot grunted and jerked with pain which made Nate cringe but he had to be unusually thorough – if Eliot had jumped into the Boston Harbour after all then there was no telling what kind of bacteria had gotten into the wound.

"You remember getting this?" Nate asked, futilely trying to distract Eliot from the pain.

"Yeah," Eliot hissed back. "Ackers."

There was a moment of silence while Nate wiped the wound clean before Eliot asked tightly, "The team?"

Nate continued to focus on his task, "He got them. All of them. Destroyed their coms."

Eliot's head dropped back heavily as he sighed, eyes clenching tightly shut, no longer from the pain.

"Dammit," he whispered, voice laced with self loathing.

"It wasn't your fault Eliot, you did everything you could," Nate assured him instantly but Eliot shook his head, not listening.

"Shoulda got to a phone … sooner. Wasn't thinking," Eliot slurred, clearly too exhausted to be having this conversation.

"Either way, it's done," he told him as he picked up the needle to sew the wound closed. "You want to help the team, get some rest, get better. I'm gonna need you healthy to get them back."

Eliot nodded and it didn't take much convincing to get him to shut his eyes and slip back into unconsciousness. Nate was grateful, not sure he would have been able to keep up the optimistic façade for long. The truth was he was damn worried about the others, and he hated that he was twitching for a drink the more the situation spiralled out of his control. Twenty minutes later Eliot's arm was stitched, bandaged and then tucked back under the covers. It was subtle but the shivering was less dramatic now which was at least some comfort.

Knowing Eliot would be unconscious for some time Nate collapsed into an arm chair in the next room and sat staring into space for a long time. His mind was flooded with scenarios and cons to get the others back safely and he sank back deep with despair as he had to discard each idea for being too dangerous or utterly impossible without the rest of the team. It was a vicious cycle – he needed the team to save the team. After an hour of running through every angle and every piece of information he had he came to a decision and pulled out his cell phone. It would take a few calls to get the information he needed, but as a general rule he knew that bounty-hunters weren't too difficult to get into contact with.

* * *

Sophie squinted as she emerged from the back of the black van with Ackers, the light seeming harsh after forty-five minutes in the windowless vehicle. She took a quick sweep of the area and saw no one else except for the three bounty-hunters that had brought her here. They were somewhere along the water surrounded by empty buildings and lonely docks. Ackers smugly tried to be a gentleman by letting her lead the way.

"After you," he said with a grin.

She glared at him and walked towards the indicated building, noting that it appeared to be an old warehouse that looked like it had been closed for at least a decade and unfortunately stunk of fish.

"An abandoned warehouse. Well, it's good you're not cliché," she commented sarcastically as she walked inside. There was no point in fighting or running at the moment, they would catch her without difficulty so she decided to save her energy for whatever Nate and Eliot came up with to get them home safely. Once inside she found the building to be rather sparse. There were a few boxes, some simple machinery along one wall and a loading door at the other end. The most interesting thing was easily the square table near the center of the room where Hardison and Parker were sitting, handcuffed to the tabletop and surrounded by four armed men.

"Hey, Sophie. They sent three guys after you, huh? They must think you're_ really_ dangerous," Parker commented as she sat slumped unhappily in her chair.

Sophie approached them quickly to check them over; Parker looked restless and Hardison was rotating his shoulder like it might have been sore but they seemed mostly unhurt.

"Are you both all right?" she asked quietly.

Parker just nodded, tugging at her cuffs seemingly out of habit, while Hardison rolled his eyes, "I'm great other than the part where I got zapped like a fried chicken."

"The boys get a little overzealous on the hunt sometimes," Ackers announced by way of an explanation. "Please don't take that as an apology. Now, Ms. Devereaux, if you'd take your seat."

Sophie glared as she sat in the chair indicated and held her wrists out to be cuffed to the table like Hardison and Parker. Once the metal was snapped on she tugged them just once – as expected they were worked firmly into the wood; she doubted even Eliot could break them. Speaking of which, her eyes shifted to the final empty seat at the table which, unlike the rest, had leg manacles built into it as well as handcuffs. It wasn't hard to figure out who that seat had been meant for.

When they were all sitting Ackers started to circle them predatorily.

"Now isn't this something. Parker, Hardison and Devereaux, three of the greatest thieves on the planet, the most feared team of criminals in the country, all mine," Ackers commented, clearly pleased with himself.

"You might want to look up the meaning of the word 'all' because I could have sworn there were four of us," Hardison said and then turned to Parker with fake thoughtfulness and uncertainty. "Do you remember four? I remember four."

"Yeah! That fourth guy, he liked to beat guys into tiny bloody pulps," Parker agreed, playing along and looked up at Ackers, "Usually guys like you."

"Yes, he always was very good at his job," Sophie added, while the others nodded in agreement. Then she turned her eyes to Ackers smugly, "You haven't seen him by any chance, have you?"

The bounty-hunter's eyes were squinted in distaste as he practically spat out, "Eliot Spencer hasn't been forgotten. He'll be here shortly."

"Eliot! That was it!" Hardison replied like he should have remembered. "He's gonna kick my ass when he finds out I forgot his name. You know, if he's not too busy with yours."

"I'm not afraid of Spencer, he's been running from me for years. If I were any of you I would be more worried about not pissing off the man who makes someone like Eliot Spencer run in fear," Ackers suggested. "And don't forget, I decide all your fates now."

"Little power hungry, huh?" Parker commented, unimpressed.

"And here I thought bounty-hunters were in it for the justice of it all," Sophie said sarcastically.

"What's justice without a little profit? I hear your team knows all about that," Ackers pointed out, enjoying the mild surprise on all their faces. "Oh, you think I don't know about the 'jobs' you work. Helping people under the guise of being world class thieves. Getting justice for the little guy when the system fails him and turning in a nice profit for yourselves along the way. It's not a bad scheme, for the most part the cops never even know you're there."

"So how did you find us?" Sophie asked curiously.

"By being the best," he replied.

"No, seriously," Hardison laughed at the man's arrogance but also wanted to know where they had slipped.

"Wasn't that hard," Ackers answered smugly. "A few months ago, a friend of yours, Sterling, put out a bounty inquiry on all of you. I look into all the leads when it comes to Spencer so came to check it out. When I got to L.A. Mr. Sterling told me a nice little story of a group of thieves who thought they were regular Robin Hoods. You were long gone from the city by then, no way to track any of you, except of course your 'leader'. I gotta say, for a smart guy he doesn't cover his trail very well. Few weeks ago Nathan Ford applied for a job at Boston Insurance. They ran a background check, which set off my alarms. I came to Boston to set up some surveillance and what do I find but the biggest cache of international thieves I've ever seen, all in Nathan Ford's living room. I had to call in extra help just to deal with the sheer numbers."

"Just cause I love to be a stick in the mud, I feel the need to remind you again, that that number is still three," Hardison gloated. "And if you think you're gonna catch Eliot well, it has been no pleasure knowing you so I will not mourn your passing."

"I might throw a party. There'll be cake," Parker added. "But not for you."

"I have no intention of catching Spencer, he's going to come to me," Ackers assured them.

"And why would he do that?" Parker asked.

"Because I have you," he answered simply.

The three thieves deflated slightly at that, not enjoying the idea of being bait for this man to catch their teammate.

"Well then, you're dumb!" Parker spurted out suddenly, trying to backtrack over their previous comments. "Eliot doesn't even like us."

"Especially me," Hardison mumbled.

Ackers' brow furrowed, clearly unmoved, "For thieves, you're terrible liars."

"He won't come," Sophie assured him with a great deal more believability. "He's not that self-sacrificing."

"Then I guess we'll just have to wait and see who really knows him best," Ackers taunted, leaning over to look Sophie in the eye. Suddenly the air was split by a sharp ringing. Ackers smirked and pulled out his cell phone then looked at Sophie before he answered, "I have a feeling it's me. Hello."

"James Ackers?"

"Yes. And who's this?" Ackers asked, knowing there was far too little growling for it to be Spencer.

"Nathan Ford."

Ackers' eyes widened in surprise, "Ford, I have to say I didn't expect to be hearing from you. You should consider yourself lucky, if there was anyone out there willing to pay money for you you'd be here with your thief friends right now."

At the table Parker, Hardison and Sophie shared looks of surprise and all three leaned forward as much as possible to hear what was being said to try to figure out what Nate's plan might be.

"Speaking of which, you've got my people. I want them back," Nate said firmly but purposely lacking any intimidation in his voice. He was back at the safehouse pacing nervously with the door shut behind him to keep from waking up Eliot.

"Your people? I'm fairly certain they belong to me now, until I sell them off anyway," Ackers taunted to which Nate grit his teeth.

"Well that happens to be why I'm calling. Let me talk to them and I'll make it worth your while," Nate promised and tried not to hold his breath as he waited for a response.

Ackers' forehead creased with interest at the turn of events and after a few seconds of thought he shrugged, "Sure, why not? Might be fun."

Ackers hit a button to put his cell on speakerphone and then held it out to Sophie at head level.

"Nate?" she asked hesitantly, not sure if this might be one of Ackers' games.

"Sophie? Is everyone all right?" Nate asked in reply, relief coloring his voice.

Sophie saw Hardison lean forward and she knew he was about to start a rant about getting tasered, so she shut him up with a look and cut him off loudly, "We're all fine! Even Hardison."

Hardison huffed but sat back in his chair and muttered to himself, "But we've definitely been better."

"My wrists are sore," Parker added absently.

"You're on speakerphone," Sophie warned him in case he couldn't tell and tried to give her a message about his plan. Ackers chuckled at this, easily reading her motives.

"It doesn't matter. I just had to know you were all safe. Stay that way. All right Ackers, let's talk," Nate requested.

Switching off speakerphone the bounty-hunter put the cell back to his ear, "I'm listening."

"Like I said, I want my people back. Sneaking them all out of the country, selling each of them off individually, it's a hassle and you only stand to gain, what, three-quarters of a million dollars, tops for the combined bounties out on them all? Maybe a million if France is feeling generous," Nate theorized of the bounty-hunting process. "I'm offering you a straight forward exchange instead. I'll give you three million dollars, today in cash, if you let them all go and never come after us again."

Ackers whistled in appreciation, "That is a lot of money Mr. Ford, I'm not sure I believe you can get me that kind of cash."

"Please, my team is made up of the best thieves on the planet. You can't have any doubts that I've got it," Nate pointed out. "If you're trying to get me to go higher, a million each is more than fair."

"Oh, there's no doubt about that," Ackers agreed. "But you assume I want money."

"What else could you want?"

Ackers paused to smile at his hostages before he answered, "Eliot Spencer."

Nate hesitated, taken off guard by the demand while the others at the warehouse shared looks of shock.

"I don't think you're his type," Nate finally answered through clenched teeth, wondering angrily why his simple plans never worked out.

"Come, you know exactly what I mean. I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go," Ackers promised cheerfully.

"Nate, don't let him do it!" Sophie pleaded loudly in order to be heard over the phone.

Ackers just laughed and moved further away to be out of earshot.

"Mr. Ford, I'm waiting. Do we have a deal? Or are you eager to see these three rotting in European prisons? I hear France is quite terrible to its inmates, which would be quite awful for Ms. Devereaux here especially."

Nate swallowed and pinched his forehead, "I won't betray Eliot to you, not even for them, but I'll give him the message and then he'll decide."

"Well, that's all I can ask from an honest man like yourself, isn't it? I expect to hear back from you within the hour."

Nate cringed as Eliot was still very much unconscious, "I'm going to need a little longer than that. Eliot can be a hard man to track down. It may take a few hours."

Nate felt a chill run down him when Ackers laughed mirthlessly in response, "Ford, we both know that he's with you, most likely huddled in a corner shaking like a drowned rat. That dip in the harbour couldn't have been pleasant. But I'm willing to bet he's unconscious or else he never would have let you make this call yourself. So, wake him up, give him the message and then call me back. You have two hours and then I move your people out of here and you never see them again."

Ackers didn't even wait for Nate's response before he flipped the phone shut with an air of finality and then wandered back over to his captives who were all tensely waiting to hear how the conversation had ended.

"That went well," he told them cheerfully.

Sophie straightened and glared at their captor, "He's not going to give himself over to you."

"It doesn't really matter," Ackers replied with a shrug. "Even if he doesn't come, I still have all of you. Either way, I win."

Smiling triumphantly Ackers walked away to talk to one of the armed men guarding them, which left the three thieves alone to whisper amongst themselves.

"What do we do?" Parker asked in a hush.

"Pray we get sold to a 'nice' foreign country," Hardison suggested. "Y'all know anything about Icelandic prisons? They got wi-fi?"

"Whatever we do, we can't let Eliot trade himself for us, not to this man," Sophie said seriously.

"Um … why?" Hardison asked hesitantly. When both the girls glared at him he held his hands up as defensively as he could while handcuffed. "Okay, so call me a coward who doesn't think he's gonna last a day in prison, but if Eliot wants to trade himself for us and there's no other plan, I'm not sure I'd feel an obligation to stop him. I mean, I'd visit him for sure, bring him a bunt cake and a carton of cigarettes, but I think he could handle himself in prison for awhile until we could break him out."

"That's just it Hardison," Sophie scolded him. "Eliot wouldn't be going to a prison."

Hardison clearly looked confused so Parker added, "That guy's not a cop, he's a bounty-hunter. The person who's going to pay the most for Eliot isn't going to be a state official who wants to see him behind bars. It's going to be someone way nastier who wants to make sure that Eliot's never seen again. Because he's dead. Tortured first, naturally."

"Okay, I get it. No letting Eliot save our butts," Hardison agreed, tapping the tabletop nervously. "But how exactly do you plan on stopping him?"

"I'm working on it," Sophie promised, sitting back to think things through.

"Nate will be working on it too," Parker added.

Hardison sat back and tried to look relaxed, "You know we're probably all worrying way too much, I mean, this is Nate we're talking about, the man always has a plan, right?"

* * *

Nate paced around the room, desperately wishing he had a plan. Most bounty-hunters were solely in the business for the money, they didn't care about justice for the most part, or what happened to the fugitives they brought in, which is what Nate had been depending on when he had called Ackers to make him an offer. Of course it was just their luck that the man had a personal grudge against Eliot and wanted to bring the hitter in more than he wanted to be paid. He was more unpredictable than Nate had anticipated which made it hard to work out the angles on a new plan, especially since the only thing he knew Ackers wanted for sure was Eliot. First things first, Nate had to wake the hitter up. No matter what they decided to do, they only had two hours.

It had been over an hour since Nate had checked on Eliot. As he came in with several fresh supplies he noted that the shaking wasn't as bad as it had been and the bandage on Eliot's arm hadn't soaked through with blood so the stitches must have been holding well. Still though, he was going to be exhausted and Nate hated that he had to wake him. Taking a seat next to the bed, ready to bolt if Eliot woke up violently, Nate shook his uninjured arm.

"Eliot! Eliot wake up, it's Nate. Eliot! Come on," Nate urged him towards consciousness. It was a few seconds before the hitter jerked slightly and then his eyes slid open to slowly scan the room. Nate shook him again, "Hey, Eliot. You with me?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Eliot answered softly after a few moments of shifting his chilled body and looking around to try to recognize his surroundings.

"The safehouse on Agricola," Nate told the hitter again to answer the unspoken question. He could see the pieces fall into place on Eliot's face as his expression suddenly shifted from confused to fiercely angry.

"Ackers," he breathed in a growl then looked to Nate for confirmation. "He got them?"

"Yeah," Nate told him, grabbing the hitter's good arm to help him up into a sitting position. "How are you feeling?"

Eliot was visibly attempting to stop the cold tremors as he answered, "Violent. We know where they are?"

Nate shook his head, picking up a mug and two pills he had laid out on the table when he came in and said, "He destroyed all their comms. Here, take these, drink this."

Eliot accepted the pills with a questioning glance to which Nate replied, "Just Tylenol."

Nodding his approval Eliot downed the pills to take the edge off the pain in his arm and then accepted the warm mug of tea gratefully but had to hold it tight to keep from spilling it as he was still shaking.

"Are you warm enough?"

"Yeah. So, what's the plan?" Eliot asked eagerly.

Nate leaned forward heavily and sighed, "That's why I woke you. I don't have one."

It was probably the most shocking thing Nate could have said to the hitter who stared at him in disbelief.

"Nothing?"

Nate shook his head, "I thought I had one. I called Ackers while you were asleep, offered to buy them back, figured he did this for the money like any other bounty-hunter. I was wrong. He said no."

"Do you know if they're okay?"

"He let me talk to Sophie, she said they're fine for now," Nate assured him.

"How much'd you offer?" Eliot asked.

"More than twice what he'd get for all three of them anywhere else," Nate told him then hesitated a moment before he continued. "He said he won't sell them but he's willing to make a trade. For you. We've got two hours to call him back and tell him you'll give yourself up or he says we'll never see them again."

"Son of a bitch," Eliot muttered and turned away as he thought that over for a second. "Can we use that?"

"I don't see how," Nate admitted, having already run through every scenario he could think of with just the two of them. "At least not without help."

Eliot didn't miss the suggestive tone of Nate's voice and he immediately shook his head, "I ain't calling Shawn. He got hurt enough last time, and that job didn't involve gun-toting bounty-hunters. No way."

Nate nodded, it had been a long-shot, "I understand. But I don't know what else we can do. Even if you were at full strength, from what you've said we can't take these guys out head on and I can't come up with a damn thing that would even remotely work without the others."

Eliot looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, "If you had the rest of the team, could you pull this off?"

Nate considered it and shrugged, "I've had a few ideas that could work but nothing that we could do with just the two of us. At the very least we'd need Parker or Hardison."

"That's it then. We'll get Parker, Sophie and Hardison back and then you can work something out with them to get me," Eliot decided, then reached out his hand. "Give me your phone, I'll make the call."

"No, Eliot. I'm not going to start trading my people like baseball cards. I woke you up to help me think not so you could sacrifice yourself for the others," Nate argued.

"It ain't a sacrifice, strategically it's our best move and you know it. The two of us can't do anything against these guys but you and the rest of the team could and there's only one way to get them back. I can see the gears in your head turning right now, you've already got a plan that the four of you could pull on Ackers, don't you," Eliot accused.

Nate nodded reluctantly, "Maybe the start of one, but it'd be tricky and dangerous, for you especially. This Ackers guy doesn't seem like your biggest fan."

"No, he's more like my biggest stalker, but I can take care of myself, better than the others, that's for sure," Eliot reassured him. "This is our best bet. Now let me make the call."

Nate sighed and handed his phone over reluctantly, "Just hit redial."

Eliot nodded and then looked confused when Nate started to leave the room, "Where are you going?"

"I think Hardison left some emergency equipment up in the attic. We need earpieces," Nate explained and then looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered the plan he had been putting together in his head. "And then if we've got the right supplies we'll have to do a quick round of surgery."

The last part had been mumbled absently as Nate left the room and Eliot started to wonder just how sadistic Nate could get when he was backed into a corner.

TBC

A very good question. Nate's plan – next time! Thanks for the amazing reviews guys! You're all awesome and I hope you're still greatly enjoying.


	4. Three for One

**Title:** Code Blue  
**Author:** Robinyj  
**Beta:** sgs09  
**Characters/Pairings:** Teamfic centered mostly around Eliot  
**Rating:** PG-13, violence and a little swearing  
**Genre:** canon/action/adventure/h/c  
**Warnings/spoilers:** None really. Mild violence.  
**Author's Notes**: Thanks so much for the amazing responses guys. Hopefully old ff. net will not send out crazy alerts this time.

* * *

"So, how are the escape plans coming?"

The team flinched when Ackers' boisterous voice echoed throughout the warehouse, interrupting their conversation. He followed up his question by happily taking the empty seat at the table they were cuffed to and putting up his feet.

"Come on," the bounty-hunter mockingly urged them when they remained silent. "You've been over here alone a good twenty minutes. World's best team of thieves - you've gotta have a couple plans by now, maybe something involving a paperclip and a distraction. Those usually work right?"

"You've been watching too much MacGyver," Hardison commented to which Ackers shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for bad television."

"Or you're just a sucker, period," Parker added harshly, glaring as she tugged on her restraints yet again. She hated having her hands cuffed. She could practically see the outline of the handcuff keys in his pocket and she had no way to grab them.

Before Ackers could bite back a retort Sophie added her own mocking question, "So, no phone call yet?"

"I'm a patient man Ms. Devereaux. He'll call. Besides, it can't be easy to get to a phone when you're hypothermic and full of bullet holes," Ackers said in an off-hand manner and enjoyed the identical looks of shocked concern that crossed over the faces of all three thieves. "Oh, did I not mention that I shot your scary hitter earlier today right before he jumped into the harbour like a little coward?"

"He's the coward?" Hardison questioned angrily. "Were you brave enough to jump in after him?"

"Are you smart enough to keep your mouth shut or do I have to do it for you?" Ackers shot back, dropping his feet back to the ground with an ominous smack. Hardison's jaw twitched but he sat back in his chair and made no reply.

"Good boy," Ackers taunted as he started to stand. "You might just be trainable."

Ackers began to walk away but didn't get far before he stumbled two steps, recovering just before crashing to the ground. Swinging back around he glared at Parker who had obviously stuck out her leg to trip him.

"Oops," she said unapologetically, meeting his gaze unflinchingly.

"Parker," Sophie hissed in reprimand, terrified as Ackers took a menacing step towards the blond thief, but the tension was broken when the bounty-hunter's phone rang.

"We're gonna have a talk later," Ackers promised before he brought his phone to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Hear you're looking for me, again."

"Spencer," Ackers greeted him, immediately cheering up. "Thank god you called. I picked up these three strays off the street, heard they belonged to you and I was just wondering what you'd be willing to do to get them back."

The team shared looks of conflicted concern – they were relieved Eliot was well enough to talk but they had no idea if there was a plan or if Eliot was just going to trade himself for their freedom.

"Cut the bullshit Ackers," Eliot demanded. "Let me talk to them."

"Why? So you can send them some kind of secret code to go along with one of the half-assed plans you're all famous for? No thanks. Ford talked to them half an hour ago; you know I've got them and they're fine. So, when can I expect you to come pick them up?" Ackers asked cheerfully.

Back at the safehouse Eliot grit his teeth to hold back his anger and to keep his teeth from chattering. He took a steadying breath before responding, knowing they had to play this carefully. "I ain't coming to you. If I do this it's going to be on my terms. Pick a number between one and twenty."

"Spencer, I really don't have time for games," Ackers hissed, his good mood vanishing.

"Do I really come off to you as someone who plays them?" Eliot countered. "Pick."

"Six," Ackers replied, rolling his eyes.

"All right then, in two hours we meet six miles down Chebucto Road outside of the city. Road's mostly abandoned and we know the spot's random. Bring Parker, Sophie and Hardison. You let them go and I'm all yours," Eliot promised.

"And it's just as easy as that? This little group of misfits is that important to you that the mighty Eliot Spencer's going to give himself up without a fight?" Ackers questioned.

"If you didn't think I'd do it why'd you make the offer?" Eliot asked.

"Oh, I knew you'd come for them. Your reputation paints a far more gruesome picture of you than your actions merit lately. There were others who had their doubts though, in fact I think I just won a bet with Ms. Devereaux," Ackers informed him.

"Making bets with a grifter, huh? You really aren't too swift," Eliot commented.

"She's tied up, I think I'll be fine. Just make sure you're on time, Spencer. Don't leave me waiting and angry with just your little friends here to keep me company," Ackers warned him. "They all like to run their mouths just a bit too much for their own good."

"Sounds like someone I know," Eliot pointed out then quickly added, "I'll be there."

"Good. Drive safe," Ackers suggested, his cheerful tone returning as he slapped the phone shut. As he walked back towards their table Parker, Sophie and Hardison glared at him, hating that they had to wait for the man's decision on what would happen to them.

"Looks like we're going on a trip," he announced and then shouted over their heads towards his armed assistants. "All right boys, empty everything out of your pockets that our thieves might try to grab off you and keep a tight hold on your guns, then get these three up and into the van. We're gonna go catch the big fish."

The thieves were quiet as they were released and then manhandled into the back of the black, windowless van. There was nothing to say as they all knew their options were try to escape and possibly get seriously hurt, or go along willingly and hope that Nate and Eliot had a plan to get them all out of this. Then there was the third option, that Eliot really was going to trade himself for their freedom but none of them liked to think about that.

As they were chained into their seats though, Hardison took comfort in a lesson he had learned a long time ago from a Tim Burton film. Under the circumstances he thought it applied to Eliot quite well. He supposed Ackers had never seen it though, because if he had then he would know that there are some fish that cannot be caught.

* * *

An hour and a half later Eliot and Nate were back in the car driving out of the city. The call to Ackers had been short and bitter and they had left almost immediately after Eliot hung up. Now they were driving in silence with the heat cranked to full blast. Nate was sweating but Eliot still shivered periodically, a fact that made him growl in annoyance as he couldn't seem to shake the last remnants of cold out of his body. As they passed out of the urban streets and into the rural surrounding areas of Boston Eliot could feel Nate's apprehension and disapproval growing with each passing mile. When they were fifteen minutes from the meeting location Eliot finally broke the silence.

"You don't like the plan," Eliot surmised.

Nate kept his eyes on the road as he replied, "Think I made that pretty clear back at the safehouse."

"You come up with anything better yet?"

Nate twitched.

"No."

"Guess we keep going then," Eliot pointed out.

There was silence for a few moments as Nate continued to brood while Eliot kept his gaze fixed out the passenger window, deep in thought.

"The time frame's too short," Nate blurted out, finally venting his specific concerns.

"We've worked with less," Eliot shrugged. When he saw that this hadn't relaxed Nate in any way he added, "It's hard smuggling someone out of a country Nate, especially unwillingly and especially if you ain't on the Mexican border. You'll have time to find me."

"And if it's not just you? Sorry, but I don't share your confidence that Ackers will just let Sophie, Parker and Hardison go as easily as you think he will," Nate admitted.

Again, Eliot was annoyingly casual in his response. "He'll cut 'em loose; he won't need them. He's been in this business a long time and I imagine he's planning on retiring off what he gets for me. No need to go through the hassle of selling off the others for less than a million more on top."

"What are you talking about? The biggest bounty I could find for you was half a million in Myanmar. I offered him three million for the rest of the team," Nate pointed out.

Eliot shook his head in disbelief at how little Nate knew of the world he had come from before he joined this team. "Half a million's the most anyone's put out there publicly. Once Ackers has me he'll spread the word around, weigh his offers. I've got a lot of enemies out there. Not to sound conceited but he'll make at least five or six million, easy, probably more."

"He wants to auction you?" Nate asked for clarification, shuddering at the thought of selling people off like items.

"Basically," Eliot affirmed.

"Jesus that's …" Nate shook his head and bit back his comment on the sheer immorality of selling people off like items, and instead asked. "Why you? It seems personal."

"Ackers tells everyone he's the best at what he does, and he just might be, but a few years ago he made it public that he was coming after me, kind of made it his mission to catch me for some reason. Obviously, he hasn't succeeded and he hasn't been the only one trying. The man who catches Eliot Spencer will ... well, let's just say it's a prestigious title. If they gave out Bounty-hunter of the Year Awards he'd get one for bringing me in. Ackers is a conceited man too, he wants the recognition as bad as the money. And he wants to wipe away the bad taste of not being able to catch me for all these years. I'm his one loose end to tie up before retirement and I imagine it's been nagging at him for years."

Nate's hands gripped the steering wheel tighter, his only outward sign of discomfort. "And we're just going to hand you over to this guy. This is the worst plan I've ever had."

"Hey, no taking credit. This is my plan, I'll take the heat. Ackers might rough me up a bit but I'm worth less in bad condition, I'll be fine. Besides, if I'm not, better me than the others," Eliot said quietly, eyes haunted as he looked back out the window.

"Eliot, this wasn't your fault," Nate tried to reassure him yet again but the hitter hardly listened.

"Ackers came here looking for me. I never should have let him near any of you, but I'll make it right, one way or the other. Just get Sophie, Parker and Hardison out of here, okay," Eliot requested seriously. "I don't really give a damn about the plan after that point."

"Well I do," Nate told him firmly. "We're not going to leave you behind Eliot."

Eliot allowed himself to smile for just an instant, "I never thought that you would."

When Eliot turned back around Nate noticed him rotate his shoulder and wince.

"How's the arm?"

It was throbbing like mad but Eliot just nodded casually, "Attached. Stitches are holding."

"Good. We're almost there," Nate pointed out. "Is the camera set?"

Leaning forward to see behind the rearview mirror, Eliot checked that the digital camera they had mounted there was on. The battery was fully charged and they had an hour of digital memory to film with so he hit record and leaned back, "It's recording."

In the distance they could just make out several dark shapes further down the long stretch of road they were driving on. They were almost at the six mile mark and it looked like Ackers had beaten them there.

"Why am I not surprised?" Eliot mumbled as he assessed the scene in front of him. There were two vehicles, a black windowless van and a car. Both vehicles seemed empty as there were six armed men on the road, along with Ackers. The men were all circled around Hardison, Parker and Sophie who were handcuffed and standing at the back of the van. The thieves seemed nervous and restless but unharmed for which Eliot and Nate both quietly sighed in relief. Nate parked several yards away but left the engine running, giving them some distance to work with for the moment. From inside the car Eliot could already see the huge grin across Ackers' face.

Before Eliot could open his door Nate's hand stopped him gently. When he turned around their leader met his eye seriously, "Please, be careful."

Eliot nodded, "You do your part, I'll do mine."

As he stepped out of the car Eliot showed no sign of being injured or cold and instead just walked to the end of the car and stopped.

"Ackers," he yelled in greeting as he stood just within shouting distance. His stance was casual despite the half dozen weapons now trained on him. Moving his glance over to the team he nodded to them, "Guys."

"Hey man," Hardison called back half-heartedly but they all stayed quiet when the men around them started raising their weapons as a warning to not talk.

Nate got out as well but stayed back by the open driver's side door, ready to bolt and fully aware that this was Eliot's situation to handle. Nate couldn't keep himself from staring in relief at the other members of the team though and even returned the half wave Parker offered him.

"Spencer, I appreciate your punctuality if nothing else," Ackers replied then turned to one of the men beside him. "Tony, go pat him down for weapons before we start this. I don't want any surprises."

Tony nodded and Eliot glared when the man started to jog towards him but made a point not to argue and even widened his stance so the bounty-hunter could search him easier. Eliot almost bit through his tongue to keep from flinching when the man patted down his injured arm but he knew he couldn't show weakness at this point. Tony moved down to Eliot's waist, searching him thoroughly, but didn't say anything until he reached the hitter's left boot.

"Knife!" he announced to Ackers, pulling the weapon off and throwing it across the street.

Ackers shook his head in disappointment, "Spencer, really?"

Eliot just shrugged, "Force of habit."

Ackers nodded and didn't seem like he was going to hold it against him, "All right, cuff him Tony. Let's get this done."

When Tony suddenly reached for his arm with a pair of handcuffs, Eliot reacted instinctively and twisted the man's wrist, then spun him and pinned his arm up painfully behind his back. Tony cried out in pain as Eliot made sure his own grimace looked like an angry glare. While Tony struggled for his freedom, the air was filled with the sound of the safety of six guns being released, all aimed at Eliot. From behind the van Sophie, Hardison and Parker tensed and looked to Nate but the mastermind gave no indication that this was part of the plan or not.

"Spencer," Ackers growled unhappily. "Thought we were going to make this simple. You've got six guns trained on you, let him go."

"Deal is simple, but we're doing this my way. First off, no one lays a finger on me until I say so," Eliot yelled and rolled his eyes as Tony's struggles were really starting to hurt his arm to the point where it wasn't worth it to hold on to him anymore. "Here, go back to your mama."

Eliot released the man's arm and Tony stumbled forward indignantly, cradling his shoulder and glaring at the hitter as he walked back towards Ackers and his men.

"Second," Eliot continued as he pointed to the team. "You uncuff all of them, now."

Ackers seemed to be considering it and then shrugged innocently before he asked, "And if I decide it's just easier to shoot you and your friends and then drag you out of here rather than go through all this hassle?"

Eliot's first instinct was to growl out a threat that he fully intended to follow through on, but instead he smiled cockily and relaxed his stance to indicate that he was the one who was really in charge at the moment. "I don't think that's gonna happen, cause you know if you shoot me full of holes then the price of my skin drops a couple million. And if you start shooting my friends, I start breaking necks, and I can guarantee you'll _have_ to put a bullet in me to stop to avoid all that, here's how it goes: you let them go and I come over to you, I'll cross them at the center of the road, they get in the car and leave and I stay."

"Just like that?" Ackers questioned in disbelief, almost not willing to believe that it could really be this easy to catch the legendary Eliot Spencer.

"That's what I'm offering. If you want to do this the hard way that could be arranged. I could use the exercise," Eliot answered, squaring his shoulders as if preparing for a fight.

A moment of silence passed as Ackers considered all the possibilities before he finally decided that Eliot's way really was easier.

"All right. Uncuff them," Ackers told a man beside him who pulled out a handcuff key and moved to the van to release Sophie, Parker and Hardison. Eliot watched intently, alert for a double cross and fully aware that Ackers was watching for the same thing. When the last pair of cuffs was removed Ackers motioned for all his hired thugs to take a step back from the three thieves. "We'll try this your way Spencer. They move across, you come over here and we all go our separate ways. I get any inkling that something isn't right I shoot every one of them in the back, understood?"

Eliot's eyes narrowed to deadly slits but he nodded curtly, "I got it. Let's do this."

Ackers smiled as he turned to his three captives and instructed mockingly, "Well, you heard the man. Get going."

Parker, Hardison and Sophie hesitated but at Eliot's nod they started to cross the empty stretch of road and move towards Nate's car.

"What do you think the plan is?" Parker asked Sophie in a whisper as they walked carefully away from their captors.

"I'm not sure there is one," Sophie answered. Her eyes were riveted straight ahead, watching as Eliot moved towards them. His gaze was focussed on the distance as he crossed the open road, almost completely ignoring his approaching team members. Sophie's heart clenched when she looked at his eyes and realized that this was the plan. There was no daring escape, no con, no leverage. Eliot was trading himself for them and they were letting him.

It didn't take long for the four of them to meet at the halfway point. Eliot kept his gaze on Ackers, seemingly fixated on his destination, but the others veered towards him, slowing as they crossed.

"Eliot …" Sophie started but he shushed them all with a shake of his head.

"Keep walking, all of ya. Just get to Nate," Eliot told them firmly, still staring at Ackers as he walked but also putting a hard emphasis on Nate's name.

Parker, Hardison and Sophie turned to look at their leader and saw him standing by the idling car, urging them forward with his eyes. Upon seeing the look he gave them each thief walked faster, straightening with the renewed belief that there was in fact a plan and it involved them getting to Nate as quickly as possible. Nonetheless they couldn't keep themselves from turning to watch as Eliot drew closer to the bounty-hunters. They all briefly wondered if this was the plan, to simply get them clear so Eliot could take out these men without the team getting caught in the crossfire. But it was a brief hope as they all accepted that even on his best day Eliot couldn't take out seven armed men that were on alert for him to try something. As they reached the car Nate took a hold of Sophie's arm to assure himself she was really there and offered nods to Hardison and Parker.

"Are you all okay?" he asked in a rush.

They nodded, periodically rubbing at their wrists and then turning as one to watch as Eliot finished crossing the divide and stood almost nose to nose with James Ackers.

"Eliot Spencer," Ackers sighed in disbelief. "I almost never thought I'd see the day."

Eliot shrugged and raised an eyebrow, "Day's not over."

"For you it is. Get him chained up, now," Ackers ordered. No sooner had the words left his mouth than two men were next to Eliot holding a heavy chain between them. Ackers was taking no chances and instead of handcuffs his men wrapped Eliot in manacles. A chain was locked around his waist that attached to a pair of handcuffs that only let him move his arms a few inches and another chain ran down to his legs, cuffing at the ankles to keep him from running and kicking. When he could barely move Ackers nodded in satisfaction.

"All right, now let's see what tricks you decided to try. Check his ears, take his boots, his belt, empty his pockets and get this sweater off him, see what he's hiding underneath," Ackers instructed. As the thugs set to work stripping Eliot down the hitter reluctantly acknowledged to himself that Ackers was being impressively thorough and cautious.

It was only a few seconds before one of Ackers' men pulled back Eliot's hair and tsked in disappointment.

"Earpiece," the man announced as he pulled the small bud out of Eliot's ear and handed it to Ackers.

Ackers shook his head as he took it and then looked across the road. The others had made no move to leave, despite the risk of Ackers coming after them again, and instead watched with wide eyes as Eliot was manhandled and restrained. Ackers held the earpiece up in the air to show to the thieves and yelled, "You really have to learn some new tricks Ford!"

Then he threw the tech to the ground and crushed it under his heel.

Beside Nate the team tensed, all of them unnaturally quiet as they watched Eliot being silently prepared for transport. As the earpiece was crushed Sophie gripped their leader's arm and whispered, "Nate, please tell me there's a plan."

"There's a plan," he told her, but his voice was flat and held no promise of its success.

The team waited expectantly but when Nate didn't say anything else Hardison spoke up to urge him on, "And that would be …"

Nate's jaw twitched as he watched Eliot being stripped of his boots.

"We wait."

Their stomachs all clenched at the answer. Parker's arms were wrapped tightly around herself as she shifted restlessly and then asked bitterly, "You guys didn't happen to notice that your plan sucks, did you?"

"We're fully aware," Nate assured her.

Down the road one of the bounty-hunters was inspecting Eliot's boots and called out to Ackers, "Hey boss, check this out."

Ackers came over and took the small item offered to him that upon closer inspection was clearly a tracking chip.

"It was cut into his boot sole," the man explained, throwing the shoe aside.

"Amateur stuff Spencer," Ackers commented as he threw the chip into the ditch beside the road. He smiled as he watched the hitter try to seem like he didn't care while down the road Ford's eyes followed the small tracking device like a lifeline that had been thrown far out of reach.

"What just happened?" Sophie asked after she saw Ackers throw something away.

"They found the tracking device," Nate explained tightly but made no move to act.

Hardison was clearly the most agitated by this turn of events and squared up to Nate, who seemed frustratingly calm, and asked, "We're not actually going to let this happen, right? We ain't gonna stand here and let this guy take Eliot who the hell knows where, to do who the hell knows what to him."

"That's the plan," Nate told him.

Meanwhile, Ackers was completing the final step before he felt comfortable moving Eliot anywhere.

"All right, cut that shirt off him. Let's see what he's hiding under there," Ackers ordered as he saw no reason for Eliot to be wearing such baggy clothing unless he was trying to hide something underneath. He expected to find weapons or another tracking device but as the material was sliced away by his men Ackers was pleasantly surprised to find that the only thing Eliot had been trying to hide was the injury to his arm.

"So, Eliot Spencer bleeds after all," Ackers commented, indicating the blood that had soaked through the bandage. Then the bounty-hunter's eyes strayed distractedly up the road where the other thieves stood huddled by Nate's car, intently watching the scene play out. "Your friends aren't too bright, sticking around when they should get the hell out of here."

"Well, they've been stuck with you the last couple of hours, it's bound to drop anyone's IQ a few points," Eliot shot back, gritting his teeth against the cold that was seeping into him again now that he was half naked and bootless. His growl quickly turned into a startled groan however when Ackers angrily wrapped his hand around the bullet wound in Eliot's arm and squeezed until the hitter's legs buckled from pain.

Down the road Sophie turned away, unable to watch, while Hardison and Parker instinctively moved forward when they saw Eliot fall but Nate held them both back.

"That was totally unnecessary!" Hardison protested loud enough to be heard down the road.

"Hardison, it's all right, just calm down," Nate instructed firmly.

"We can't just stand here," Hardison argued even though he wasn't sure what exactly he wanted to do about the situation. "That guy's a psychopath."

"Eliot'll be fine, he's worth less if he's injured," Nate assured him but sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. "This is Eliot's plan. He wants us to stay here, we're staying here, no matter how much we hate it."

When Eliot was on his knees Ackers squeezed on the wound one more time for emphasis and then sneered, "You might just be as stupid as your friends. All right, get him in the van. We're done here."

Then he pushed the hitter to the ground where Eliot landed hard, unable to brace his fall in the manacles. Plastering on a huge grin Ackers waved to the team standing down the road and shouted, "Pleasure doing business with you Ford! I appreciate the trade-in!"

Hardison and Parker twitched noticeably as they all watched Eliot silently dragged and then thrown roughly into the back of the black van they had arrived in.

"This isn't right," Hardison commented, more to express his guilt than anything. "We gotta stop this."

"No, we have to let it happen," Nate countered firmly as the bounty-hunters all loaded into their vehicles and started to drive off. Sophie, Parker and Hardison waited tensely for Nate to let them in on the plan but the mastermind didn't say a word until the last car vanished into the distance at which point he spun towards them all and announced, "Okay, time to go."

"After them, right?" Parker asked as they all rushed to climb into Nate's car.

"No, back to the city, we don't have a lot of time. Parker, Hardison, there are clothes and badges back there for you, change quickly and then we gotta make some calls," Nate explained as he pulled on his seatbelt and quickly brought the car around into a u-turn.

"Back to the city?" Sophie questioned. "But how will we find Eliot if we don't follow them?"

"With the second tracking device. The first one was a decoy, Eliot knew they'd check there," Nate answered, speeding down the road without complaint from the others. In the backseat Hardison and Parker were changing into the suits that had been waiting for them. Hardison was so focussed on the job that he didn't even do a double take when Parker stripped down to her bra next to him but his eyes widened at Nate's comment.

"They searched Eliot pretty thoroughly just now. Do I even want to know where you guys hid a second tracking chip?" he asked shakily.

Nate didn't turn around when he answered quietly, "We sewed it into the bullet wound in his arm."

The others were silent at the mention of how Eliot had been shot and slightly nauseated at the idea of inserting and sewing anything under their skin.

In the back Hardison cleared his throat and replied hesitantly, "Uh, when this is over remind me to tell Eliot that he can just keep that one."

Nate nodded and Sophie got down to business.

"All right, so what's the plan? Who are we calling?"

"We're not calling anyone," Nate said and then looked meaningfully back at Hardison and Parker who were now decked out in suits and FBI badges. "Agents Thomas and Hagen are going to call our friends, Taggert and McSweeten, and arrange a meeting, immediately. They just got a hot tip on the location of an illegal bounty-hunter and an international thief right here in Boston and could use some back-up."

The team smiled in approval and Hardison handed Nate's cell phone to Parker.

"Here, you make the call. One word from you and McSweetheart will offer to arrest his own mama."

Parker took the phone and looked excited, "Can I ask him to do that?"

"Maybe next time Parker, right now we just need to get him excited about arresting Eliot," Nate said.

"And what about us?" Sophie asked, eager to help.

Nate actually managed to rummage up a smile for her and answered, "Have you ever hotwired an ambulance?"

She shrugged, "First time for everything."

TBC

Next time – Agents Taggert and McSweeten! Be there for adorkablenesss!


	5. Flowers Smell Nice

**Title**: Code Blue  
**Beta**: sgs09  
**Rating:** PG-13, violence and a little swearing  
**Genre**: canon/action/adventure/h/c  
**Summary:** Nate felt sick as he was taunted by the man on the other end of the phone, "I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go."  
**Author's Note**: Sorry for the delay, real life got a little crazy, hectic and terribly depressing. But with the return of Leverage, I also bring the return of Code Blue! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Forty five minutes later, Parker and Hardison were waiting at a table in a coffee shop with Parker on look out while Hardison worked at his laptop. Parker's phone call to Special Agent McSweeten of the FBI had been short yet cryptic, and consisted of little more than, "Meet me at the Starbucks on Salter Street in half an hour."

While they waited Hardison had turned on Eliot's tracking device and was overlaying a map of the city with the readouts.

"They're still moving," he told Parker, turning the computer so she could look at the screen better. "They're outside the city but it's nowhere near where Ackers was holding us by the water."

"It doesn't look like there's much out there," Parker noted. "Maybe Eliot got free and he drove himself there."

Hardison shook his head, not willing to be optimistic just yet. "The way they had him tied up, even Eliot wasn't breaking free of that any time soon. Just give me a second I'll try …."

Before he could explain what he was going to try Parker elbowed him in the ribs and motioned towards the door. "He's here."

Hardison looked out the front window and felt his eyes widen when he saw Agent McSweeten walk by. The man was carrying a large bouquet of flowers and was decked out in a suit with his hair combed back and an excited grin on his face.

Hardison pulled Parker closer and whispered urgently, "Did you make it abundantly clear to him that this was a work-related meeting?"

"Why else would I want to meet with him?"

The answer relieved Hardison in some ways, as Parker clearly wasn't interested in the agent in a way he had previously feared, but he still dropped his head down on the table in exasperation.

"Oh hell," he muttered, lifting his head back up to watch as McSweeten came through the door and looked around nervously. His face lit up when he spotted Parker but then his whole body deflated when he saw Hardison sitting next to her, waving awkwardly in greeting.

"Oh, uh … Agent Thomas," McSweeten stuttered nervously. "You're here. Of … of course you're here. You're partners and this is …is …"

"Very serious, important business," Hardison finished for him, trying to save the poor man from as much embarrassment as possible. "Thanks so much for coming to meet with us. Please, sit down."

"Yeah, right," he agreed as he sat down and awkwardly tried to place the flowers out of sight.

"Were you at a wedding or something?" Parker asked suddenly, seeming to just realize he had flowers with him.

"Uh … no. No I … I just like the smell … of flowers," McSweeten mumbled to which Parker nodded sincerely, accepting this answer as totally reasonable. Hardison resisted the urge to sigh again and made a note to have a talk with her when this was all over.

"So, is your partner around?" Hardison asked to give a more formal feel to their meeting.

"Oh, yes. Right. He dropped me off. We were on a stake-out when you called. Just a second, he's probably not far," McSweeten assured them, pulling out his phone and gladly walking a few feet away to make the call.

Parker looked thoughtfully at the flowers when he left and then turned to Hardison. "There's got to be an easier way to smell like flowers all day."

"You're unbelievable," Hardison remarked, shaking his head in sympathy for the poor agent whose conversation he could half hear a few feet away.

"Yeah, just get in here … no …. no … it's a work thing. Yeah … he's here. Okay."

McSweeten shut his phone as he came back over, sat down and said, "He'll be here in a second."

"Great. Here, you can look that over while we wait. It's why we asked you to meet us," Hardison told him as he handed him a file folder with some printoffs and photographs.

"Thanks," McSweeten said, accepting and flipping through it. "Wow, that's … that's a lot of charges."

Hardison saw that he was looking at the fake rap sheet he had prepared for Eliot and pointed out, "It's double-sided."

McSweeten flipped the page over and his eyes widened even more as he looked over the lengthening list of offences. "You have a lead on this guy, I'm guessing."

"We'll explain when your partner gets here," Parker promised. Hardison looked up and saw the bigger man coming through the doors.

"And there he is now. Hello sir, how have you been?" he asked warmly, shaking Taggert's hand.

"Great, great, thank you agent Thomas," Taggert answered and tried to smile encouragingly at his partner who just turned away in embarrassment. He switched his attention to Parker and held out a hand, "Agent Hagen. Good to see you again."

Parker shook it professionally and they all sat down. Hardison slid a folder in front of Taggert as well.

"Gentlemen, thank you both for coming. I apologize for asking to meet so … informally, but we need your help and we didn't feel we could exactly go through official channels," Hardison explained apologetically.

"Oh sure, sure, no problem," Taggert assured him, leaning closer in anticipation. "What exactly is this all about?"

"In front of you are the profiles of two men; James Ackers, international bounty-hunter, and Eliot Spencer, world class thief and hitman," Hardison began.

"You'll notice at the back several pictures of the two men together," Parked added, at which point both men flipped to the end to find photos taken less than an hour ago showing Eliot in shackles being manhandled by Ackers and his men.

"It looks like Mr. Ackers caught your man. He'll probably be bringing him in any time now," McSweeten remarked naively, causing Hardison to shake his head.

"No, I'm afraid he won't. You see, even though Mr. Ackers is a deputized bounty-hunter in half a dozen European countries and three states, he is not specifically authorized by the state of Massachusetts to capture or bring in suspects and fugitives. That being said, he wouldn't even if he was deputized. The bounty on Spencer here in the states is only $50,000 and we have it on good authority that Mr. Ackers has brought the man outside of the city. We believe he plans on transporting him out of the country."

"To where?" Taggert asked.

"Myanmar, most likely," Parker answered. "They have a half million dollar bounty on him there. We called you because we want to make sure that Spencer stays here, in the States, to pay for the terrible crimes he's committed against this country. Because he's committed a lot…and the United States deserves retribution!"

When the three men stared at her she realized she may have played the part a bit too dramatically. She tried to recover by casually adding, "Besides, even if he wasn't a criminal he's still an American citizen and we have no extradition treaty with Myanmar. That technically makes Ackers guilty of kidnapping and human trafficking."

"So, why haven't you called in a team?" McSweeten asked. "This would be a huge arrest."

Parker and Hardison both looked down, hesitating visibly in front of the two agents in an attempt to appear embarrassed. Parker bit her lip like she wasn't sure what to say, so Hardison cleared his throat sheepishly and answered, "See, we have a slight problem with our jurisdiction at the moment."

Parker nodded in agreement and added, "We're supposed to be in New York right now."

"We got transferred there last month," Hardison continued. "Ackers has shown up in a few of my cases before though. He's always bad news. Three days ago he flew in to New York from Cairo. When I heard he was in town we decided to tail him for awhile, see who he might lead us to, but a day later he took off for Boston. We knew something was up so we decided to follow him, but …"

Parker shrugged in a way that seemed overly rehearsed and finished, "We don't exactly have permission to be here."

"Our SAC thinks we're on vacation," Hardison whispered secretly. "We want these guys put away, but we're trying to avoid getting slapped on the wrist for being here so we decided to call you guys, see if you could take care of it from this end. We knew you'd do the right thing."

The two agents did a terrible job of covering up their excitement over the possibility of being in charge of a huge sting operation but they were also good enough to admit that they hadn't done the work on the case.

"You two have done all the footwork here. We couldn't take the credit for an arrest this big," Taggert argued to which Hardison replied very quickly.

"Yes, you can. You have to, or we," he pointed between himself and Parker, "we get our mutual asses handed to us for not following division protocols or handing over this case sooner when our suspect left our jurisdiction. Besides, it's not about credit or glory or promotions. We're FBI! It's about catching the bad guys and justice and the American way, right?"

Taggert and McSweeten mumbled answers of agreement over top of each other, feeling chagrined by Hardison's speech.

"Well, of course."

"Yeah, yeah obviously."

"The only reward we want is to be part of the team when you take these guys in. Strictly off the books though," Hardison added quickly. "Don't want it coming back to our supervisor that we were here."

"I'm sure we can arrange something," McSweeten promised. They were both clearly becoming excited again about running an operation.

"Just to be clear, these guys are armed to the teeth," Parker pointed out, then handed out photos of Ackers and his hired men carrying guns and automatic weapons. "We're gonna need a full assault team and I recommend deadly force. No questions asked."

Parker's straight faced suggestion was met with incredulous stares from the three men, especially Hardison who knew she really just wanted to hurt Ackers.

The hacker jumped in with, "That is, if all other avenues fail, then deadly force could possibly be required. But probably not, right _Agent Hagen_?"

Hardison stressed Parker's fake name and the thief looked disappointed as she replied, "Fine."

"Great, glad we cleared that up. So, here's my cell phone number and their last known address. We managed to plant a tracking device on Ackers' car but it's still moving. You go get a team ready and I'll let you know when we have a more exact location. We'll meet you at the infiltration point, but again, we'd appreciate you not telling anyone about our involvement," Hardison requested.

"Oh, your secret's safe with us," Taggert assured them as he and McSweeten stood up to leave, taking the evidence folders with them.

"Thank you both. You're going to be doing a great service, bringing these criminals to justice," Hardison said as he shook their hands.

"You too. Great work, both of you. We'll get on this right away and call you when a team's ready," McSweeten promised as he released Hardison's hand and nervously avoided looking at Parker more than necessary.

"Oh, don't forget your flowers," Parker reminded him in a cheerful tone, picking the roses off the chair and offering them to McSweeten.

"Uh, you know what, you … you keep those," McSweeten offered with an awkward smile before turning and bolting out of the coffee shop with no more than a simple, "Bye."

"Yeah, I should go catch him. Thanks for this," Taggert called out as he followed his distraught partner down the street.

Now alone in the coffee shop, Parker took a long sniff of the flowers she was holding and then turned to Hardison with a smile, "They do smell nice."

Hardison shook his head, amazed at how oblivious she could be at times, and gathered up his laptop. "Come on, we gotta meet Nate and Sophie before this all goes down, and hope they managed to get an ambulance."

Parker's face immediately dropped when she remembered why they were pulling this con and she remarked sadly, "And hope that Eliot doesn't need a real one when we get to him."

* * *

The van ride was unpleasant to say the least. Being shackled into the seat was uncomfortable, he was shaking from the cold again and the painkillers he had taken for his arm had long since worn off. What might have been worse than the agony in his arm though was that the only thing available to distract him from the pain was Ackers, who was sitting across from him in the back of the van, grinning like a fool.

"I wonder who'll end up buying you. I hope it's the Russians. You and your team took out some of their heavy hitters at a wedding or something, didn't you?" Ackers suddenly remarked in a conversational tone. "They're bound to be pretty pissed. I hear they do absolutely terrible things to their enemies."

Eliot had a pretty good smile of his own though and he laughed in Ackers' face, "Careful you don't get in over your head there Jimmy. The kind of guys who want to get their hands on me, they're not used to paying for things. They find out you've got me they might just come and take me off your hands free of charge, whether you want to let me go or not."

"Really Spencer? You think your little mind games might actually scare me into not auctioning you off?"

Eliot shrugged causing his shackles to jingle. Honestly, he really didn't care what Ackers planned to do with him. The team would have contacted the FBI by now which meant that Ackers was on borrowed time as it was.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Eliot replied as he again tugged absently on the chains holding him in his seat, which were also the only things keeping him from snapping Ackers' neck. Then he growled in annoyance when he couldn't hold back a sudden shiver from passing through him. He had been fighting the cold before even arriving at the meeting with Ackers but after they searched him they had only left him his pants to wear as he sat chained in the cold van. He knew his body temperature was dropping quickly but he hated how visible it was to Ackers that he was freezing.

"You better get used to the cold Spencer. I have a feeling that whoever's going to be buying you won't be as accommodating as myself," Ackers warned him cheerfully.

Dropping the cocky smile, Eliot adopted a hard glare towards Ackers instead and answered, "I think you greatly overestimate the number of enemies I have who are actually alive to bid on me."

"I'm sure I can find someone who'll take an interest," Ackers answered confidently. Eliot felt the van come to a stop, which meant they reached their destination; he knew that so long as his tracking chip was working the FBI wouldn't be far behind. As Ackers stood up the hitter forced back the smile that wanted to escape at the thought of the bounty-hunter being led away in cuffs.

"Time to go," Ackers announced as he opened up the back door of the van to let in two of his men.

"Get him up and inside. We're leaving once it's dark," Ackers told the men who immediately set to work unchaining Eliot from his seat and pulling him out of the van. Once on the ground Eliot looked up at the sun and figured it was another two hours until it got dark out. They were pretty far out of the city though and he knew the team might not be able to get the FBI out here by then, but he decided not to worry about that too much right now. After all, the tracking chip worked within almost 200 miles, so even if Ackers moved him again he felt confident that the team would find him eventually. At least that's what he thought until he was dragged around the corner of the van and saw where they had stopped.

He had felt them driving out of the city and had expected to end up at a warehouse or cabin or some other secluded place where a chained up criminal could be hidden. He most definitely hadn't expected to end up at a hangar bay in front of a tiny airstrip and a six person passenger plane that looked fuelled up and ready to go.

Eliot didn't fight the next shiver that passed through his body as he was too focussed on the realization that the team was going to be too late. Ackers was going to fly him out of the country tonight and none of them had any idea where he would end up.

* * *

After leaving the coffee shop Hardison called Nate to update him on the meeting with the FBI. The mastermind was relieved it was all going as planned so far, and told the hacker to meet up with him and Sophie to go over the details of the next phase. Parker drove while Hardison worked at his laptop in the passenger seat, tracking Eliot and monitoring several police channels and emails to see how things were progressing. When they got to the meeting in an empty parking lot, they found Sophie and Nate already there, decked out in paramedic outfits and standing in the shade of an ambulance.

"What'd you have to do to steal that?" Hardison asked as he got out of the car.

"Nate faked a heart attack," Sophie answered. "Nothing too interesting."

Nate's eyes widened in disagreement. "They were two seconds away from zapping me with the paddles."

"Two whole seconds!" Sophie argued. "That's forever."

"That's how long it took me to steal Hardison's wallet," Parker told them, pulling out the leather square and handing it back to the hacker.

"Wha … never mind," Hardison said, waving it off. "Anyway, Taggert and McSweeten are hooked. They're getting a team together now to make the big arrest."

"A team you two will both be on?" Nate asked to verify.

Hardison nodded, "Yep. We told them they could have the credit if we could be on the team, off the books."

"Do I get a gun?" Parker asked suddenly.

"You'll both need one actually," Nate answered unhappily. "FBI agents can't be on an assault team without a weapon."

"Good. I hope Ackers resists arrest," Parker muttered darkly which made Hardison truly believe that someone was going to get shot before the day was over.

"Just, be careful, both of you. Don't let Ackers or his guys see you. If they do recognize you and try to rat you out, pull the undercover card. It should buy you enough time to get out," Nate suggested.

"Cool, but what if …" Hardison was interrupted by his laptop beeping from where he had left it on the hood of the car. Going over to check what had set it off his voice raised in excitement. "Hey, Eliot stopped moving. I'm gonna call Taggert, see how soon we can go in."

"Where are they?" Sophie asked, leaning over the hacker's shoulder. Hardison cradled his phone between his ear and shoulder, letting it ring while he typed. All three of them noticed his eyes widen in fear when a line of text appeared over Eliot's location on the screen.

"It's an airstrip," he told them all quietly. "Eliot's at an airstrip."

"But, then if Ackers has a plane he could fly him out of the country any time he wants!" Parker pointed out. "He could be getting ready to leave right now."

"Calm down Parker," Nate demanded, cradling his forehead as he tried to think. "We're all right. Ackers is basically smuggling Eliot out of the country, he couldn't have registered a flight plan then, which means he won't risk leaving until it's dark. That gives us some time. Hardison, get the FBI out there, now! Sophie, get in. We're about to cut through traffic."

Nate and Sophie raced back into the ambulance and turned on the siren to keep anyone from getting in their way while Parker and Hardison climbed back into their own car. As Hardison sat down Agent Taggert finally picked up his phone.

"Taggert."

"It's Agent Thomas. I hope you've got that team ready because we've got to move fast. Our target finally stopped at a private airstrip outside the city. We believe Ackers is going to fly Spencer out of the country tonight, probably just after dark. We have to go, now!" Hardison urged them desperately as Parker raced through traffic behind Nate's ambulance.

"We were just getting everyone geared up. We'll be ready in ten minutes," Taggert assured him.

"Good, I'm texting you the address. Hagen and I will meet you there, discretely," Hardison said. Then he added as an afterthought, "Oh, uh if you could bring some extra guns too that would be great. We couldn't bring ours on the plane over from New York, you know how it is."

"I gotcha. Makes you feel kind of naked, huh?"

"Excuse me?"

"Not having your gun? It just doesn't feel right without it," Taggert clarified.

"Oh yeah, naked, sure. So we'll, we'll meet you there. Bye."

Hardison hung up quickly and immediately started typing up a text as he grumbled to Parker, "I can't believe we're using the FBI to save Eliot's ass."

Parker shrugged as she swerved through traffic, "Even if something goes wrong Eliot's better off arrested than kidnapped and sold at auction."

"You can be the one to explain that to him then if he ends up in jail," Hardison replied, fully aware how tricky it was going to be to successfully go through with this plan.

"No, I'd probably leave that to you," Parker said, eyes focussed on the road. "I mean, chances are if something goes wrong we're all going to go to jail, including you, and since I'd be in women's prison, then you would have to explain it to Eliot how we got him, and ourselves, caught by the feds. Good luck with that."

"Well, let's just not let that happen then," Hardison suggested.

Parker nodded. "That's the plan."

* * *

A half hour later the team was relieved to find that the FBI agents had beaten them to the rendezvous point. They were still a little more than ten miles away from the airstrip, but the stretch of road was far enough away to gather and plan their next move without the bounty-hunters knowing they were close. As they parked they saw that the FBI had brought a black SWAT van and three squad cars with a total of about ten officers, all of whom were dressed in black Kevlar vests and casting wary glances at the arriving strangers. All except for Taggert and McSweeten of course, who emerged from the crowd when they saw Hardison and Parker pull up.

"Agents Thomas, Hagen," Taggert greeted them as they all walked away from the crowd to talk.

"Gentlemen, I can't say enough how much we appreciate you getting this all together. I have no doubt we're going to bring these men to justice," Hardison told them seriously, to which the FBI agents nodded with pride.

"Did you two call the ambulance?" Taggert asked, motioning towards the emergency van that Nate had been driving behind them.

"Yeah, that's our ambulance," Parker replied, making it sound as though they owned it personally.

"Uh, she means that we called it in, for the case. We have it on good authority that one of the suspects, Eliot Spencer, was shot earlier today. It's likely he's going to need medical attention, but hopefully he'll be the only one," Hardison explained and then got down to business. "So, what have we got?"

"Well we brought ten agents with us, twelve with you two here, so we should be able to overwhelm the seven men you said would be at the airstrip pretty easily," McSweeten replied with a mild stutter, nervous about being put on the spot in front of Parker.

"All right, sounds good," Hardison said and then opened up his laptop on the hood of their car. "Now, these are the blueprints of the hangar and satellite photos of the surrounding area. It's pretty much all open and flat. There's no cover so we're not going to be able to sneak up on these guys. No matter what direction we come from they're gonna see us."

"So what do you suggest?" Taggert asked eagerly.

"We let them know we're coming," Parker answered. "There's only one road in and out. We block it off with the cars, turn on our sirens, make a lot of noise and get them to panic. They'll know they can't run so hopefully they'll try to make a stand in the hangar bay."

"Then we hit 'em with tear gas, sweep in, take them all in while they cry for their mamas," Hardison finished.

"Sounds good," Taggert agreed. "We'll pass the word along. Oh, and these are for you."

Taggert pulled out two handguns, passing one to each of them. Hardison took his calmly with a nod of gratitude while Parker snatched hers from him and gleefully pulled back the slide grip then looked at them all impatiently. "Well, are we gonna do this?"

TBC

Find out next time! Hope you have all enjoyed thus far. This fic is crazy fun to write!!! And new Leverage! Weee! Don't really like Tara but man I missed Eliot.


	6. Freeze! FBI!

**Title**: Code Blue  
**Beta**: sgs09  
**Rating:** PG-13, violence and a little swearing  
**Genre**: canon/action/adventure/h/c  
**Summary:** Nate felt sick as he was taunted by the man on the other end of the phone, "I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go."  
**Author's Note**: Sorry for the delay, real life has gotten ridiculous! But I won't keep you from the next chapter of Code Blue!

* * *

Down the road at the hangar bay, Eliot couldn't feel his toes and he knew his fingers weren't far behind. After they had dragged him out of the van Ackers had Eliot cuffed to a pole in the wall where he could be easily watched. Eliot's first move had been to take a visual sweep of the floor but there was absolutely nothing in reach around him, which meant he had nothing to use as a weapon or a lockpick. The hangar bay was also freezing and since he had never been given back his shirt and shoes, so was he. For the last hour and a half he had distracted himself by cataloguing the likely strengths and weaknesses of each of Ackers' men in a fight and routinely checking for any weaknesses in the shackles on his arms and legs. So far he had only succeeded in bruising his wrists and possibly tearing a few of the stitches in his arm which he recognized as not being an extremely practical use of his time but there wasn't much else he could do.

He heard movement to his left and felt his jaw clench when he saw Ackers emerging from the small plane. The bounty-hunter had disappeared inside the aircraft half an hour ago and was smiling as he approached the hitter.

"Everything looks about set, Spencer. I'm going to take great pleasure in flying your ass out of here myself," Ackers told him.

Eliot raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "You're a pilot now?"

Ackers shrugged, "It's a useful skill. Good for when you gotta hop a border quickly."

"You mean run away with your tail between your legs? Yeah, that sounds like you," Eliot commented but most of the sting of the insult was ruined by the chattering of his teeth.

Ackers was about to reply but instead cocked his head to the side as he listened carefully to something in the distance.

"What is that?" he asked quietly, looking around at the plane and equipment for the source of the faint ringing sound. His search was quickly interrupted when one of his men came running frantically to the back of the hangar.

"Sir, you have to see this! We have a huge problem," he announced, bouncing on his heels as he waited for Ackers to follow him.

"What is it!?" Ackers demanded as he jogged to the front of the building where he found all his men gathered looking out into the distance.

"It's the cops!" Tony yelled, clearly panicked as they all watched the black police vehicles race towards the hangar bay with their sirens blaring.

Ackers felt his stomach drop as he counted two cars and one SWAT van headed towards them. He recognized the cars as standard FBI, which meant they were all screwed.

"How'd they find us?" one of his men asked angrily.

Ackers knew the answer and hissed, "Spencer."

Then he turned around and stormed back into the hangar bay. Behind him his men shouted questions about what they should do but he ignored them as his anger had him dead set on only one thing. When he got back to the plane he found Eliot where he had left him but now the hitter was wearing a cocky smile.

"You didn't happen to hit a snag did you?" he mocked.

Ackers howled in anger as he grabbed Eliot around the throat and shoved him hard against the cement wall.

"This was your plan? You had your friends call the Feds? You stupid son of a bitch! You think you won't go to jail too?" Ackers demanded.

Eliot couldn't move his arms and legs to defend himself but managed to squeeze out a response through his closed off airway, "If I do, at least I won't be lonely."

With another grunt of rage Ackers slammed Eliot back into the wall with a loud crack and then let him drop to the ground, where he lay there stunned from the blow but still shaking mildly with cold. The bounty-hunter's breathing was heavy and getting worse, panicking as the sound of sirens got louder.

One of his men suddenly appeared behind him and demanded to know, "Sir, what do we do?"

Ackers looked down at Eliot and then around the hangar bay at what they had to work with as he made a decision.

"You and the others stay by that front door and slow down the Feds. Shoot _at_ them if you have to but do not _shoot_ anyone or we are royally screwed! I'm getting Spencer out of here. Him being here is the only evidence they have against us. If he's not here they can't prove anything."

The man nodded his understanding and disappeared back towards the front.

As Ackers pulled out a gun Eliot winced and slowly pushed himself back into a sitting position against the wall, glaring at his captor.

"Not the brightest bunch of boys you got working for you if they don't realize you're running off with the score and leaving them behind," Eliot pointed out.

"Well, I didn't hire them to be smart. I hired them to be expendable," Ackers replied as he took out a set of keys and unlocked the cuffs that had been keeping Eliot in place but was careful not to undo the manacles that limited his movements. When Eliot was able to move Ackers grabbed him by his bad arm and hauled him to his feet. Ignoring the hitter's grunt of pain he levelled his gun at Eliot's head and warned him, "Now, you're coming with me, quietly, because if you try anything then I put a bullet in your brain. At this point I don't care how much less you're worth dead. Got it?"

Behind them they could hear the sounds of gunfire breaking out between the FBI and the other bounty-hunters. As the bullets started to fly Eliot could read a desperate panic building behind Ackers' eyes so nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah, got it," Eliot assured him through chattering teeth.

"Good," Ackers muttered and started to haul him towards the plane. Eliot knew if he got on that plane the team might never find him, but he couldn't fight the way he was shackled. Hell, he could barely walk and was still shivering. He knew his only choice was to stall, so he pretended to trip, forcing Ackers to haul him back up to standing.

Then Eliot yelled suddenly, "Wait! Wait. There is one thing."

"What?" Ackers demanded angrily, spinning around.

Eliot head-butted him, hard.

"That," he hissed in response.

As Ackers fell to the ground, stunned but still conscious, Eliot watched the gun fall from his grasp and slide a few feet away into a fog of tear gas that had suddenly appeared.

Near the front of the hangar the sound of gunshots had lessened and was quickly being replaced by coughing and shouts of confusion as the others reacted to the sting of the tear gas being shot into the building by the FBI.

"Dammit Spencer," Ackers growled, coughing as he rolled over to search for his gun. Eliot had seen where it went and tried to get to it first but Ackers kicked out his leg and snagged the chain between Eliot's feet causing the hitter to lose his balance and topple to the ground.

"Ah!" Eliot shouted when he landed on his injured arm and felt his vision black out for a second from the rush of agony. He was coughing when he opened his eyes and found himself staring down the barrel of Ackers' gun.

"This was supposed to be my last job, Spencer!" he shouted irately, coughing from the tear gas and shaking from his own anger. "Twenty-five years … I've been doing this and you were the last one! This was it! And you … you couldn't just come god-damn quietly!"

"And you … couldn't just let it the hell go and admit … when someone's better than you," Eliot replied, not bothering to try to get up off the floor.

"That's cause I'm … the best you son of a bitch! And I'm going … to be the last one standing."

Eliot could see the man's finger start to tighten on the trigger and tried to roll out of the way but knew in the back of his mind that he'd never make it clear in time.

"FBI freeze! Put down the weapon!" A voice suddenly demanded.

Ackers and Eliot both turned to see a single FBI agent in a gas mask in the doorway with his gun trained on Ackers.

The bounty-hunter should have known he was finished but the mix of adrenaline and anger coursing through him made him stupid enough to shift his gun to try to take aim at the FBI agent. As soon as his gun moved however, the agent opened fire, sending a single bullet into Ackers' shoulder. The bounty-hunter dropped his gun and fell to the ground, moaning and coughing as he clutched at the bleeding wound.

As the FBI agent came closer and kicked the gun far out of Ackers' reach, Eliot could see that the agent was shaking. Eliot wanted to speak but was coughing too hard from the tear gas to form words, so he continued to watch as another agent in a gas mask appeared, obviously female, with her gun drawn. After taking a quick assessment of the situation she let the weapon drop and turned to her partner angrily.

"Hey! I said I wanted to shoot him!"

"He was trying to kill Eliot. If you want to take another shot at him I won't stop you."

"No. You took all the fun out of it," she replied as she holstered her weapon and dropped to her knees next to Eliot. "Hey."

"Hey Parker," Eliot greeted her through heavy coughing.

"Can you walk?" she asked. When he nodded she took him by his good arm and helped him stand while Hardison stayed with Ackers, his gun still drawn on the bounty-hunter.

"Come on, we gotta get out of this gas," Parker told him as they stumbled along to the huge open doors at the back that the plane would have flown out of. When they were clear Eliot dropped down to the ground, gasping in clean air while Parker peeled off her gas mask.

"Are you okay?" Parker asked seriously as she tried to look him over in the dim light.

"Yeah, I'm … all right," Eliot assured her but Parker's eyebrow raised showing that she didn't quite believe him.

"Fine, but when the others show up pretend that you're not," she reminded him to which he nodded. They both heard footsteps approaching behind them and Parker pulled her gun as she spun around, but they both relaxed when they saw Hardison coming towards them with a relieved smile.

"Hey, they took Ackers into custody. He didn't recognize either of us through the masks," he told Parker as he knelt down with her. "Good to see you man."

"You too," Eliot agreed. "That was a … nice shot. Were you aiming for his leg again?"

Hardison shook his head, "You don't want to know where I was aiming."

Eliot agreed; he probably didn't. Meanwhile, Parker had put away her gun and was making fast work on unlocking Eliot's manacles. He sighed in relief when they finally fell away and he was able to move his arms and legs freely.

"You're freezing," Parker pointed out after touching his skin. Her and Hardison had both thought that Eliot's shaking had been from the tear gas but now they knew that he was hypothermic again on top of everything else.

"Dammit," Hardison swore after feeling Eliot's skin himself and shrugging out of his vest. "You stay with him. I'm gonna get Nate and Sophie and we'll get him out of here."

Parker nodded in agreement and started to fit Eliot into the vest while Hardison put his gas mask back on to go back through the gas-filled hangar bay. Before he reached the ambulance though he was stopped by another figure in a gas mask that could only be Taggert.

"Agent Taggert," he greeted him. "How's it going?"

"Good, we think that's the last of them. We've got everyone cuffed outside except for the hitman, Spencer. If we don't find him we can't make the kidnapping, smuggling or human trafficking charges stick on the others."

"He's near the back with Hagen. She's keeping an eye on him. He's been shot though and he's hypothermic. He needs medical attention," Hardison explained.

"You left her alone with the suspect!?" McSweeten suddenly cried out, appearing out of nowhere.

"Well, yeah but … hey!"

Before Hardison could explain the love-struck agent took off at a run through the hangar bay towards the back doors. Hardison looked back briefly at Taggert, who shrugged and offered, "Why don't I go get those medics while you go back with your partner?"

"Thanks. Appreciate it," Hardison called back as he ran after McSweeten.

Back near the doors Parker was helping Eliot lay down. The coughing was subsiding but she was still worried as it made the shaking more noticeable and she had found blood on the back of the hitter's head.

"Someone's coming," Eliot warned her tightly, his ears alert even when he was exhausted.

She turned around and could just make out a form approaching that clearly wasn't Hardison.

"Be unconscious," she instructed Eliot just as McSweeten drew close.

"Agent Hagen!" he called out in concern.

"Take off your jacket!" Parker demanded abruptly which brought the agent to a screeching halt.

"Uh … what?" he stuttered.

"Your jacket, give it to me. This guy's in rough shape and he's hypothermic. If he doesn't make it we lose our key witness."

"Uh, right. Right. I was just worried … about you being alone … with him," McSweeten stuttered in mild embarrassment as he shrugged off the jacket. Parker lifted an eyebrow though.

"How could I be alone if I was with him?" she asked, but shook off the question before the other agent could try to respond. "Anyway, he's unconscious. There's not a whole lot going on."

They both turned as Hardison jogged up behind them, "Hey, Taggert's getting the medics. How's he doing?"

"He's hypothermic, he's been shot and the back of his head's bleeding so he's probably got a concussion," Parker replied, working very hard to sound cold and professional instead of concerned as she laid McSweeten's jacket over Eliot's shivering body. "We have to get him out of here."

"Yeah, we'll need him nice and healthy for trial," McSweeten commented and then blanched at the glares sent his way by Parker and Hardison. They were all saved from saying anything else when Nate and Sophie suddenly appeared in paramedic outfits pushing a gurney through the warehouse doors.

"Over here," Hardison waved them over.

"That was fast," McSweeten muttered but was ignored as everyone focussed on Eliot who was still faking unconsciousness. Sophie was clutching an emergency blanket which she immediately laid gently over Eliot as she knelt down at his side and feigned taking his pulse.

"Heart rate's slow," she announced. "And judging by the feel of his skin he's hypothermic, possibly in shock."

Nate moved to Eliot's other side and lifted each of the hitter's eyelids to shine a penlight inside.

"Pupils are barely responsive," Nate noted, then turned to McSweeten and Hardison. "The guy outside with the bullet in his shoulder will be fine, but we gotta get this one to a hospital soon. We'll call in another ambulance for the other guy who got shot but we gotta take this one in now."

"All right," McSweeten agreed and then watched as Hardison and Parker both helped Nate and Sophie roll Eliot onto a backboard and then lift him quickly onto the gurney.

Nate brushed against Parker briefly and whispered to her, "An FBI agent would cuff one of Eliot's hands to the gurney."

She nodded in understanding and pulled out her handcuffs.

"I'm going to cuff the suspect to the gurney, because he's dangerous. And I'm an FBI agent," Parker narrated in a voice so stiff and loud that the others cringed.

To distract the one real agent from Parker's terrible acting, Hardison pulled McSweeten over to the side for a moment.

"You know what, you've got a lot of work on your hands here, processing all those guys outside, and we're not officially supposed to be here so how about we escort your suspect to the hospital. We'll keep an eye on him so you guys can focus on your work here," Hardison offered to which McSweeten nodded in gratitude.

"That sounds great, sure," McSweeten replied.

"All right. Come on Hagen, we're gonna keep a close eye on this guy," Hardison called out to Parker, who quickly appeared at his side.

"Bye," she said to McSweeten with a smile. "We'll probably fly right back out to New York so you might not see us again."

"Oh, well then in that case …" McSweeten grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously with a dreamy look in his eye. "It's been an extreme pleasure … working with you again."

"Okay, thanks," Parker replied and then looked down at his hand curiously when he never let her go.

"Hmm hmm," Hardison cleared his throat, watching the whole thing unhappily.

"Oh, um …sorry." McSweeten said as he immediately released Parker's hand when he realized what he had done.

"Are we gonna get to this guy a hospital or keep chatting until he kicks it?" Nate asked suddenly in a loud, irritated voice. When the FBI agents all turned to him he pointed to his watch and the gurney in front of him to indicate that they didn't have time.

"Right, of course," McSweeten said and then tilted his head to the side as he stood next to the gurney with a thoughtful look on his face and pulled out his handcuffs. "I know he's unconscious, but this guy's pretty dangerous. Can't be too careful."

The team watched as McSweeten handcuffed Eliot's other wrist to the metal railing of the gurney and then smiled with pride. Nate could swear he heard the faintest growl come out of the hitter as the metal clicked in place so kicked the legs of the gurney to encourage him to keep quiet.

"There, that should do it. All right, well, bye then," McSweeten said with an awkward wave.

"Bye," Parker said again and walked away with Hardison. Nate and Sophie immediately followed behind them pushing Eliot out of the building. They all kept their heads down in the fading light and made a wide circle around the group of arrested bounty-hunters to avoid being recognized as they walked briskly towards the ambulance. Sophie jumped into the driver's seat while Parker held the back doors open so Nate and Hardison could wheel the gurney into the back.

As soon as the doors shut Sophie gunned the engine, turned on the sirens and they all breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"If you guys could cut it a little closer next time … that would really be great," Eliot said with soft sarcasm as he opened his eyes.

"Well, if you come up with a plan next time that doesn't involve turning yourself over to a bounty-hunter, we'll move a little faster," Parker promised.

"You had to go … and tell them it was my plan, didn't ya?" Eliot accused Nate who tried to look innocent as he grabbed a few more blankets to cocoon the shaking hitter in.

"It was the only way they'd listen," Nate defended himself.

"Seriously man, you didn't have to do that for us," Hardison told Eliot with a heavy expression.

But Eliot just shrugged like it was nothing, "And you didn't have to shoot Ackers for me."

"Especially because I wanted to do it," Parker pouted, immediately unhappy again.

"We're just glad you're all right," Sophie said from the front seat. "You _are_ all right, aren't you?"

"I will be once … someone gets these cuffs off me," Eliot replied, tugging at the steel chains on both his wrists in annoyance. "Who's got the key to these?"

Parker looked expectantly at Hardison, to which the hacker shrugged, "What?"

"Keys?" Parker prompted him.

"I don't have them."

"I gave them to you after I uncuffed Eliot the first time," Parker reminded him.

"Well I don't have them," Hardison answered.

"Dammit Hardison! Somebody better get me out of these things. I didn't turn myself in for you guys just to get chained to a bed!" Eliot fumed.

"All right Eliot, calm down," Nate requested. "Parker, just pick the locks please."

"I don't have my lock picks," she answered.

"What?" Nate and Eliot both asked in disbelief.

"You told me not to bring anything a real FBI agent wouldn't carry," Parker explained.

Before Eliot could explode again Sophie piped in, "It's all right. If nothing else works we all have plenty of lock picks at home."

"Uh, none of you can go home," Nate reminded them all. "Ackers knows where you all live and he will most definitely tell the FBI now that they have him. You can't go back to your old places."

"Well then someone better figure out a way to get me out of these damn things. Fast!" Eliot reminded them.

"You're so dramatic," Hardison sighed as he looked around for something to use as a lock pick. "Like we'd go through all this trouble of stealing ya just to leave you locked to a bed."

"On a positive note I think your anger is actually helping warm you up," Parker pointed out. "Oh hey, those might work."

Parker had spotted a package of unopened hypodermic needles over Eliot's head and was leaning across the hitter to try and reach them.

"Watch it," Eliot demanded, then flinched and turned to growl at her. "Do not poke my bullet wound."

"I was trying to feel the tracking device," she admitted. Then her eyes lit up as she realized, "You're like part robot now."

"No he ain't, he's more bionic if anything," Hardison corrected her, then looked thoughtful. "Of course, if you add in some kind of mechanical body part he might qualify for a cyborg."

"I'm not any of those things because we're taking the chip out as soon as somebody uncuffs my damn hands!" Eliot shouted.

"Oh we don't have to take it out. Hardison said you could keep it," Parker told him.

"I'm not letting Hardison leave some crazy techno-gizmo in my arm."

"So when it's saving your life it's a tracking chip, but now that we're done it's a 'techno-gizmo' that you want no part of. That's so typical."

Parker had managed to break off the tip of one of the hypodermic needles and leaned over the side of the gurney as she started to fiddle with the lock.

"It's too thin," Hardison noted then grabbed a second package of needles. "You're gonna need another one."

"No, it might work," Parker replied, trying to hear a click within the handcuffs.

"Just here, take the second one, it'll be easier," Hardison offered.

"Let the girl work Hardison, she knows what she's doing."

"Hey, I'm just trying to help … whoa!"

The ambulance suddenly took a sharp turn which sent Hardison flying into Parker since they weren't wearing seatbelts.

"Hey!" Parker yelled as she was collided into. There was a faint snapping sound and they both ended up near the back door. When the vehicle was going straight again Parker looked down at her hand and her eyes widened.

"Whoops."

"Wh … oh," Hardison commented when he saw what she was looking at.

"What?" Eliot demanded.

Hardison looked at the floor while Parker held up the piece of needle she had been using as a lockpick, the end of which was obviously missing.

"I think the tip of the needle broke off inside the lock," Parker told him and then did a quick check to confirm. "Oh yeah, it's stuck in there. We probably won't be able to get that off without a blowtorch now."

Hardison never thought he could be so happy that Eliot was handcuffed, because he was fairly certain if the hitter somehow got free he was a dead man.

"Hardison! I swear to god when I get out of these things …!" Eliot was too angry to even articulate a threat but the hacker still backed away as far as possible and started to rummage through some cabinets.

"Hey man, that was totally an accident, and I am totally gonna get you out of those, I promise. Until then though, you know, I think a sedative might help us all take the edge off," Hardison suggested as he read the names on several vials he found. "Who knows what Tramodil does? Can it prevent homicide?"

"You're not sedating me to save your ass!"

"That's cold man, I was thinking about you, you know. You got that bullet wound thing and you seem to be in a lot of pain. A nice sedative might make us all happier."

"I might be able to make a lockpick from a keychain for the other cuff. Or we could break your thumbs."

At some point during the increasingly loud bickering going on between the three youngest thieves, Nate sighed and crept into the front seat with Sophie. As he sat down he slammed closed the partition between the front and back and looked at the grifter with a smile.

"Well, I think Eliot's going to be fine."

"Yes, as long as he gets free eventually," Sophie agreed. "Don't know if we'll be able to say the same for Hardison, but it's good to have everything back to normal."

Behind them they could hear a growl that sounded like Eliot suggesting they break Hardison's thumbs instead.

Nate looked out the window and shook his head, "I think we all have a strange definition of normal."

"Face it Nate. We all have a strange definition of everything."

He couldn't argue with her there.

TBC

Just the epilogue left! Feels good to have the whole team back together!


	7. Epilogue

**Title**: Code Blue  
**Beta**: sgs09  
**Rating:** PG-13, violence and a little swearing  
**Genre**: canon/action/adventure/h/c  
**Summary:** Nate felt sick as he was taunted by the man on the other end of the phone, "I will give you the deal of the century Mr. Ford, three thieves in exchange for one. You give me Eliot Spencer and the three I already have are free to go."  
**Author's Note**: Sooooooo, I may have had this done for awhile and forgot to post it. Ooops.

Epilogue

"Achoo!"

Eliot tilted his head against the back of the couch cushions and resisted the urge to groan as his head throbbed in rhythm with his heartbeat. It only took a second for a Kleenex box to be shoved into his line of sight and he took one without glancing at who had offered it to him but muttered, "Thanks."

"No problem," Sophie assured him, leaving the box on the coffee table in front of him as she continued on her way to the kitchen where Hardison and Parker were arguing over supper. They had started to take turns cooking since Eliot had been unanimously banned from the kitchen by the rest of the team until he was recovered but the hacker and thief were having trouble agreeing on what actually constituted a meal.

It had been three days since they had all successfully slipped out of Ackers' grasp and they had been staying together at a safehouse ever since while the FBI searched their homes and apartments looking for them. So far the cops hadn't found any evidence to suggest that any 'international thief' other than Eliot had even been in the city, which pleased the team as it served to discredit Ackers even more.

So far everything was going as planned; Ackers was in jail and the team had gotten away without a hitch. The only complication they had run into was Eliot. He had been practically hypothermic for an entire day and despite their best efforts to take care of him the hitter had quickly developed a cough and fever that they all feared was escalating into pneumonia. At first Eliot had insisted he was fine, but over the last day he had become so miserable that he didn't even protest when they laid blankets over him or brought him soup and medicine. Right now he was camped out on the couch perpetually drifting in and out of sleep as he was constantly waking up to sneeze or cough.

"Go! Get out! You're gonna ruin it!"

The yelling didn't help either.

Pushing himself to a sitting position he peered over the top of the couch and watched as Parker shoved Hardison out of the kitchen.

"You can come back when it's ready," she told him triumphantly and then gave him a look that practically dared him to try to follow her as she turned around and went back to the stove.

"This is discrimination! Just cause I'm a man I can't be in the kitchen! I don't see anyone gettin' all pushy when Eliot cooks," Hardison ranted, flailing his arms indignantly as he stood just outside the threshold to the kitchen.

"That's because Eliot doesn't think that microwave burritos qualify as a meal," Sophie pointed out from a stool at the counter.

"I'm also not sure that Hardison qualifies as a man," Eliot added, chuckling as he dropped back down onto the couch. It was an unusually harsh comment but Eliot didn't care – it had taken over four hours to get out of those handcuffs so he figured the hacker deserved it.

"Can't get an ounce of respect in this place," Hardison mumbled shaking his head as he tried to sit on the couch to check his laptop. "Seriously man, you need all three cushions? Slide over."

"Bite me," Eliot grumbled. His laugh from a moment before had turned into a harsh coughing fit that caused the other thieves to share brief looks of concern.

"Sorry man, it's all yours," Hardison said quickly, grabbing his laptop and moving over to an arm chair.

They all turned when they heard the front door open and sighed in relief when Nate came in alone, making a beeline for the cupboard.

"How'd it go?" Sophie asked quietly but Nate ignored her and as he frantically searched through the shelves and then let his head fall forward against the cupboard in dismay.

"No coffee, of course," he muttered, clearly exhausted.

Nate had been with the police since the night before. They had known that Ackers was going to rat them all out to the Feds, even Nate who had no criminal record, but instead of running Nate had decided to go with them willingly in an attempt to discredit Ackers even more.

"Yeah, it was fine," he finally told them all as he moved into the living room. Eliot moved his feet to make room for the mastermind to sit, which earned him a glare from Hardison, but Nate didn't notice anything as he crumpled from exhaustion. "They had a lot of questions about you guys. I told them I chased you all but hadn't seen you in years. I also made up a story about Ackers never liking me because we had gone after the same thieves several times over the years and I screwed him out of his bounties when I caught them first. They couldn't link me to any one of you so after checking everything out they let me go."

"And now the Feds think that Ackers was trying to frame an innocent man on top of everything else," Eliot surmised with a nod of satisfaction. "This just keeps getting better."

"You like that? You'll love this," Hardison said with a smile as he clicked a couple keys and linked his computer screen to the TV. The hacker scrolled through a few scanned documents and then stopped to enlarge something that looked like a court filing. The team was all squinting to read the fine print so Hardison read it off for them. "In the Supreme Court of the State of Massachusetts, James W. Ackers has been charged with the following crimes: flying an airplane without a registered flightplan, kidnapping, attempted international smuggling and attempted human trafficking. Man, even if none of the charges stick the trial alone will take over a year."

"Took long enough for them to charge him," Parker commented from the kitchen.

"I can explain that one too," Hardison assured them and changed the screen to show some medical documents. "Ackers was only released from the hospital last night, they didn't bother charging him for awhile cause they knew he wasn't going anywhere. It seems that bullet wound in his shoulder got a nasty infection because _someone_ told the Feds that a second ambulance was going to come take care of the guy. Of course, it never showed up. His arm didn't get treated for like six or seven hours."

Nate tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch, fully aware that he was 'someone' who was supposed to call the ambulance. "Well, that's just tragic."

"Terrible, terrible thing that," Sophie agreed with the same sarcasm and lack of sympathy.

Eliot huffed out a laugh which again turned into a coughing fit. Nate could tell that the hitter had gotten worse in the hours since he left and asked, "How you feeling?"

Instead of answering Eliot just growled.

"That good, huh?" Nate was saved from any further comment when Parker emerged from the kitchen with a tray of food.

"Move it people, man's gotta eat!" she announced, kicking Nate's feet out of the way as she placed the tray on the coffee table in front of Eliot so the hitter wouldn't have to move. Eliot sat up and looked at the meal in stunned amazement: a bowl of spaghetti, a cut up apple, a handful of peanuts and a bottle of beer.

"Um …" Eliot was half a second away from asking about the odd assortment of food when he realized that everything on the tray was something that Parker had seen him eat before which made it obvious that she had chosen them because she knew he liked them. He shut his mouth and nodded to her. "Thanks Parker, looks great."

The thief bounced on her toes and looked proud. Eliot's eyes lit up as he reached for the beer as he hadn't had one in days. However, the bottle was snatched off the table and out of his grasp just before he could reach it.

"I don't think that's going to help you get better any sooner. I'll get you a juice," Sophie said without room for argument as she disappeared into the kitchen with his beer. Parker glared at her retreating back and then looked at Eliot with a promise in her eyes to steal the drink back for him later.

Hardison nudged Parker and lifted an eyebrow in anticipation. "Didn't you forget something?"

"Oh yeah! There's dessert!" she cried as she flew back into the kitchen.

"I didn't even eat yet," Eliot protested, then became wary as he noticed the mischievous glint in Hardison's eye.

Having completely ignored Eliot's protest Parker emerged walking carefully from the kitchen with another tray. Behind her Eliot could see Sophie trying to hide a smile behind her hand as she saw what the thief was carrying.

"So, I really wanted to get the truck one or see if they'd make one shaped like a knife, but Hardison said you loved horses more than all those things so …"

As Parker spoke she laid down the tray to reveal an elaborate ice cream cake cut out in the shape of a bright pink, smiling My Little Pony that had "Get Well Soon Eliot" written in light blue across the body.

For a moment Hardison thought that Eliot was actually trying to kill him with his eyes, the hitter's scowl was that deep, but then in the blink of an eye all anger disappeared from his face as he looked up at Parker who was waiting expectantly to see if he liked it.

"It's awesome. Thanks," he told her as sincerely as possible. Nate was fairly certain the hitter's jaw was going to break soon it was clenched so tightly in a forced smile. "Why don't you put it back in the fridge though so it doesn't melt? I'll have some after I eat."

"Okay," she agreed happily and bounded back out of the room with the tray.

"You're lucky you're not wearing that cake," Eliot hissed at Hardison when the blond was out of earshot.

"But you love horses," Hardison commented innocently, flinching away on instinct but then relaxing when Eliot backed down because Parker had come back in the room.

Nate shook his head, got up and headed for the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat for the rest of them.

"Don't touch my peanuts Hardison!"

"You've got a whole bowl!"

As Nate sighed heavily Sophie appeared next to him and asked.

"Nate, the bad guy's in jail, the cops can't find us, we're all home safe and the others are bickering like children, what else could you possibly need?"

"Coffee," he breathed out longingly.

She smiled and placed a full bag of coffee beans in his hands then went back to the living room to compliment Parker's 'beautiful cake' and give Eliot his juice.

Nate looked at the coffee, then at his team together in the other room and smiled.

"Now everything's perfect."

The end.


End file.
